Switched!
by AnitaGrace
Summary: A mysterious animal, an explosion of purple smoke, and suddenly our favorite people are feeling a little... different... Zutara and other interesting things, let's read on!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Okay, so I really thought I wasn't going to go through with this fic after I decided to start my other Kag/Sess thing. But here we are! Switched! Okay, so see if you can figure out what's going on! It'll be exciting. And it's AU, I guess, because it takes place before Ba Sing Sae and after Zuko Alone and The Chase and Bitter Work. It'll be good. I promise. After this first chapter, it might be drabble like, though, and I can't say how committed I am to the whole thing, but I will try to finish it. It might not be horrendously long but I could have so much fun with this. Oh gosh... Okay! Let's get on with it!**

* * *

"Aang, do you _ever_ see an animal and think to yourself: 'Maybe I shouldn't touch it. It might be _dangerous_.'?"

"Nope!" Aang chirped as he walked ahead of Sokka.

"That's what I thought," Sokka said to himself.

The day was bright and cheerful, shining through the tall trees of the spacious forest and creating green patterns of light on the ground. Aang led the group of benders (and Sokka!) on their perpetual trip to master the four elements and escape the crazy members of the Fire Nation royal family. The recent addition to the group, Toph, had settled in with only a few bumps and things were actually going peaceful and well for once.

Which of course meant something bad had to happen. It always does.

Currently, this bad thing was in the form of an as-of-yet unidentified woodland creature. It looked like a cross between a large chipmunk and a beaver. Its tail was flat and broad while its cheeks were cute and chubby. It rested in the crook of Aang's elbows and cooed as he tickled it under its chin.

"Aw… come on, Sokka," Katara tried to appeal to her older brother. "It's just a cute little animal." She scratched it under its chin and the creature made a happy squeaking sound. "Yes, you are! Yes, you are!"

"Katara, there is nothing 'cute' about wild animals." Sokka sliced his hand across the air in front of him as if to slice away her protest. "Need I remind you of Foo Foo Cuddleypuffs?"

"Just because you got stuck in a crack and almost got eaten by a Sabertooth Moose Lion doesn't mean this little guy's ferocious," Katara shot back at him over her shoulder.

"Heh heh…" Aang chuckled. "Sokka got caught in a crack."

"I didn't get caught in a crack!"

"Yeah, Sokka, how _did_ you get caught in a crack?" Toph asked.

"I don't know," Sokka replied in a mysterious voice. "That was all a part of his _plan_. Foo Foo Cuddleypuffs' _plan._"

There was a silence while a far off cricket chirped.

"You need to plan to get your head checked," Katara retorted. Toph and Aang laughed.

"Well, this guy's just a cute little chipmunk beaver," Aang decided. "He's the first of his kind! What should we name him?"

"Buttons!"

"Tiger!"

"Dinner!"

* * *

"Uhhhn!" Zuko moaned. "Where are we going, Uncle? We've been in this forest for days…"

Uncle shrugged. "I do not know, Zuko. I was following you."

Zuko stopped walking immediately but his uncle continued past him, seemingly unconcerned.

"Uncle!" Zuko protested. "You didn't even ask me where I thought I was going!"

"I didn't think it was my place." Uncle stopped and regarded his nephew seriously. He had come back from the mountains unharmed and for that he was grateful, but his nephew's attitude seemed to have changed very little. There was a small difference, but it was so minute (especially under all his frustration) that only one who knew him as well as Iroh did would see it. They had set off in the direction of more fertile land, in hopes of finding better water sources. They had quickly followed a stream until it had dwindled into a spring somewhere deep in this forest.

Zuko sat down on a boulder a short way from his uncle.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Uncle." He put his head in his hands. "I don't know what to think anymore."

_Ahh_, Uncle thought to himself. _This is not just frustration with this forest, he is frustrated with himself._

"What do you mean, nephew?" Iroh moved to place a hand on Zuko's shoulder, which the boy, for once, did not shake off. _He's changed on that mountain._

"I mean about Azula. About Father. My banishment." Zuko looked up into the canopy. "The Avatar. Is it worth it? I mean, what do I have to go back to? What kind of father sends his son out on an impossible mission?" this last phrase was whispered mostly to his shoulder.

"I think these are answers you will find in yourself when the time comes and you are ready." Iroh advised him. "There is no denying who you are or who your family is, but it does not mean you must behave like them."

Unfortunately, this sage moment was broken by a fiercely rustling bush and muffled shouts becoming louder.

Zuko jumped up into fighting position, Uncle by his side. They waited for whatever was approaching to come crashing through the brush.

A strange creature unlike any the two benders had ever seen before bounded out, chittering away happily. It looked like an overgrown chipmunk that got its tail run over by a wagon wheel.

"What the-" Zuko began when a more familiar sight sailed over the bush, following the freaky thing. "You!"

"Come back, Muffins! Sokka was just kidding! He doesn't want to really eat you! That whole stuffing-you-in-a-pot thing was just a joke! Come on, Muffins!"

"Avatar!" Zuko growled.

Aang froze where he was and "Muffins" followed suit.

"Oh…" Aang gave a weak smile. "Hey there, Zuko. Long time no see." He waved.

Right on cue, Katara and Sokka burst through the brush, admittedly less gracefully than Aang.

"Stupid, ugly, branchy-"

"Zuko!" Katara gasped. Sokka stumbled forward, still shaking stray leaves from his legs. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" Zuko smirked as he lit both his outstretched palms on fire. "Chasing the Avatar."

"Can't you give that a break?" Sokka complained. "I mean, doesn't it get old?" He stopped, glancing at Zuko's shorn head. "By the way, nice haircut. Almost didn't recognize you last time." He gave other boy a thumbs up.

Zuko growled and lunged forward.

"Run!" called out Aang and the three took off, Zuko quick behind, with Muffins in the lead.

Iroh stood in the middle of the small clearing wondering what just happened. He knew something did, but darnit if he wasn't getting old.

"Ugh! You guys!" a younger and familiar voice called out from behind the bushes. "When I find you guys, I'm gonna…" mutter mutter "Just leave a girl by herself… Don't even know _why_ you just ran off… Stupid Sokka…"

The girl finally pushed through the undergrowth only to have it trampled by a large, overgrown beast being ridden by a winged monkey.

"Oh," she said, noticing Iroh. She turned her face in his general direction, pale blue eyes wide open. "It's you. Are you feeling better?"

Iroh chuckled. "Oh you mean from Azula's attack? Ah yes, much better. Thank you."

"Well, I guess we got a wait." She sat down where she stood, falling gracefully to the ground. Iroh sat on the rock his nephew had only just abandoned.

Toph tilted her head towards Iroh in a considering manner. "So Prince Zuko's your nephew," she stated.

Iroh nodded. "Yes, though he is not much of a prince now. We are both wanted criminals by the Fire Nation."

"Then why's he still chasing Aang?" Toph wanted to know. "If you're criminals, it doesn't seem like they'd take you back just for capturing the Avatar. More like they'd just arrest you all."

"Yes," Iroh agreed, sighing heavily. "I am wondering when my nephew will see the error of his ways."

There was a small silence while the two considered everything in their situations and its implications.

After a while, Iroh spoke.

"So… would you care for some tea while we wait?"

* * *

"Muffins!"

"Aang!"

"Sokka!"

"AVATAR!"

Aang was standing in a large clearing near a large cliff when he turned around at Sokka's voice. Sokka stopped to rest, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his racing breath.

"Shh! Sokka!" Aang whispered loudly and flapped his hand at the older boy. " If you're too loud, you'll scare Muffins again!"

Sure enough, Aang had some how managed to trap Muffins. The poor thing was huddled near the side of the cliff, shivering with fear as its gaze darted from side to side, searching for a way to escape.

Sokka straightened. "Yeah," he replied to Aang's "whispering". "Because _I_ was being _reeeal_ loud. And by the way? You whisper like an Ox Elephant with a cold."

"Come on, Muffins," Aang coaxed. He walked slowly towards the animal, his hands out in what he clearly thought to be a non-threatening gesture. "I'm not gonna hurt you, buddy. I just wanna be your friend."

"Uh, Aang?" Sokka looked at the terrified creature warily. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

Aang shot Sokka a grin over his shoulder. "Why? What could go wr-"

A loud crack sounded and a burst of purple smoke puffed up. Sokka and Aang were thrown across the clearing and unceremoniously dropped to the ground. Their eyes were closed and their bodies limp when Katara and Zuko burst through the brush once more.

Before either one of them could open their mouth another crack went off and more smoke appeared as their bodies were flung across the grass. Zuko's body slammed against a boulder while Katara's skidded to a stop against the ground.

There was a long silence during which none of the teens moved.

Muffins broke away from the wall of rock in front of which he had been huddled. He cautiously made his way over to the orange and yellow form of the Avatar and sniffed tentatively. Satisfied when the boy did not move, Muffins chirped happily and trotted off into the wilderness.

* * *

About an hour later, Katara woke groggily. Raising a hand to her head, she was disturbed to find her hair shorn off.

Her fingers shaking, she brushed at the spiky shortness of it. Kami… it felt like it was only two inches long!

To her despair, she felt tears rise behind her eyes and she moved to brush them away before anyone else saw them – crying over a haircut!

But to her further shock, when her fingers reached her left cheek, instead of the smooth skin she normally felt, it was the rough, craggy skin of an injury.

Katara's hands flew to her face to check for any other injuries.

Oh, something was wrong, something was very seriously wrong. Her entire face was messed up. Instead of her cute button nose, there was a long, straight one. Her face was longer and more sharply angled, her chin rough with hair, her eyes smaller. In fact, one eye was almost completely shut, surrounded by the disturbed flesh of an old, flame-shaped scar.

Trembling, Katara turned to look around her, hoping against all hope that this was a dream.

When her eyes fell on the crumpled form of a waterbending girl with a long braid and blue clothes, she hissed with the sharp intake of breath.

"What's going on?" she asked.

* * *

**What's going on? Who knows! I hope it gets even more exciting... yeah! I bet it will!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my god... I can't believe how wonderful you all were! The second day I had this posted, I decide to check out the reviews, thinking "Why bother? It's only been up for a day." But then...**

**I love you all. Really. Truly. Deeply. Do. **

**That was so encouraging...**

**Hey, does anyone know when the next episode is? Today is Saturday the 21 of October.**

* * *

Trembling, Katara turned to look around her, hoping against all hope that this was a dream.

When her eyes fell on the crumpled form of a waterbending girl with a long braid and blue clothes, she hissed with the sharp intake of breath.

"What's going on?" she asked.

* * *

Katara tried to stand, but her legs didn't seem to be working. She leaned back against the boulder she woke up near and closed her eyes.

_Okay, Katara,_ she coached herself._ It's okay. There's nothing wrong. You're just… you're just having a really bad dream… a really, really bad dream._

Sighing, Katara opened her eyes once more and crawled her way over to her crumpled doppelganger. Warily, she touched its shoulder. The thing moaned.

"Uh… wake up." Katara didn't know what else to say. How does one go about waking oneself up?

"Hey, you…"

She shook it again.

"Come on…"

Kami, she was difficult to wake up!

Finally, the thing moaned and moved. With a few more groans, it sat up and lifted a hand to its forehead.

"Ah!"

Katara jumped.

"Ah! Ahhhh! Wh-wha – _what's happened to me?_"

Katara held out her hands. "It's okay; I think we've switched bodies. Just calm down…"

The strangest thing in the world was to look down into her own eyes – were they really that big? But such a pretty shade of blue…

"Who are you?" it demanded. Katara watched, fascinated, as her brows furrowed. Did her nose always look that… _rabbit-like_, whenever she was angry?

"Hey!" it stood up, fists clenched, legs sunk down in a defensive stance. It barked out its words. "I said: What's going _on_!"

Katara stood up, thrown off a bit by how high she was. Gosh, this guy was tall!

"Um…" Katara threw out her hands to catch her balance. They caught her attention and she stared down at them. They were so big… so rough, too. "I think we switched bodies… I remember… a flash…"

Katara clenched and unclenched her fingers.

"Purple… whoa."

"Stop it!"

She snapped back to focus, eyeing the doppelganger in front of her from her good eye. "Do I always sound that shrill?" she demanded. "Or are you messing up my voice?"

Arms crossed over and blue clad chest. "I don't think abou-"

"Don't touch those!" Katara darted forward and slapped its hands away from her-its-his-her- agh! – chest!

It looked surprised for a moment before blushing and slapping back at her hands. "Stop! I don't know what you're accusing me of!"

Katara glared at it. "How would you like it if I went around touching you-me- agh! Your body! Yeah? What then?"

It took a step forward, its finger raised. "Don't you dare…" it trailed off menacingly.

Katara laughed. "You know, I'm pretty sure intimidating me with my own face isn't going to work. I'm pretty cute if I do say so myself."

Her double stopped what it was doing and looked down at itself in disgust. "You're probably the only one to say so…"

"What?!"

It sighed and looked to the side. "Okay, look, we'll need… we'll need to call a-" it took a gulp, working to make the words come forth. "We'll need to call a truce. Just until we figure out how to get back into our bodies." It glanced back up at her from the corner of its eye. "But after that, I'm gonna capture the Avatar!"

Katara snorted. "Yeah, I thought it was you. You've got a real one-track mind, you know that?"

"You don't know what you're talking about! My honor-"

"Yeah, yeah," Katara flapped her hand at him. "You have to restore your honor, blah blah blah…"

Zuko grabbed her palm with tiny hands. "Don't. Do that." he growled, sounding oddly like Katara when she was angry, though she didn't realize.

Katara raised an eyebrow at him. "And why not? It's my body now."

Zuko's eyes turned into slits. Katara made a mental note not to make that face _ever_ – it wasn't all too flattering.

"You make me look like a girl." He spoke slowly.

"I am a girl," Katara reminded him.

Zuko gave a strangled sigh and turned away. Katara looked down at herself again. Was she really in Zuko's body or was this some weird dream? She pinched herself – just to make sure.

Ouch.

"Where are we?"

Katara shrugged. "The forest?"

There was a long pause. Somewhere: a cricket chirped. (Again.)

"I'm going to look for Uncle."

"Hey, wait!" Katara scrambled through the bushes after Zuko, trying to follow the end of her dark braid as it whipped past branches and brambles. "Wait for-"

Katara stepped out into a clearing. The same one they'd just left. The only difference was Aang and Sokka standing real close to each other. They looked as surprised as Zuko to see the two of them burst forth from the thick foliage.

"You brought us in a cir-"

"Katara!" Aang leapt forward and grabbed Zuko by the hand, who was too caught off guard to react.

"Stay away from her, Zuko!" Aang glared.

Katara blinked. "What?"

"Look, Zuko," Sokka stepped forward and held up his hands in a gesture of peace. He spoke calmly, trying to defuse Aang's tension. "We're not looking for trouble. Why don't we just go our separate ways and you can try to capture me some other day."

Katara blinked again. "Sokka…" she said. "What are you talking about? And why are you… oh." Katara smirked. "Oh, I get it… you… and Aang…" Katara covered a chuckle with a cough.

"You switched."

Aang –or Sokka, really – straightened stiffly and glared at Katara.

"It's not funny."

Katara giggled. "Yes, it is. You're always complaining about water "magic"-" Katara made marks with her fingers in the air. "And now you're the Avatar – Master of all four elements! It's hilarious!"

And with that, she broke down laughing so hard she had to clutch her stomach.

"It is kind of funny…" Sokka – actually Aang – admitted.

"No, it's not!" Sokka protested. "It's terrible, it's… wait a minute…" Sokka looked hard at Katara wiping her good eye.

"… Katara?"

She nodded.

"Then who's…" Sokka looked questioningly at the arm he held.

Zuko leveled a stare at him. "Unhand me, you peasant."

"Ah!" Sokka yelped and let him go, flailing his arms in a circle. "You're not Katara!"

Zuko rolled his eyes heavenwards. "Thankfully, no."

Sokka looked back and forth between Katara (who stood, grinning, with her hands on her hips) and Zuko (who managed to glare at them all without looking at any of them).

"Oh… crap."

* * *

**I really want some feedback on the whole relationship thing. Should I include it? I'm not gonna lie - I'm a Zutara fan myself, but if you have suggestions for other pairings, feel free, I really will take this into consideration. And I'm having trouble figuring out how to progress this without making it extremely kinky. And I don't want to do that. I don't want to make this too... mature, like my other fic. I really want to keep the characters in character (especially since they look nothing like they should... oh crap, what have I done?) But I also do like stories with romance in them, so I'd like to include that but I want to keep the auto-eroticism down to a minimum. **

**Le sigh. Write me and tell me what you all think I should do! I wrote the first chapter so long ago, and I don't think I developed the plot much further than the switching bodies business - or if I did, I forget what it was.**

**Love you all!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heh heh heh... Welcome back! Sorry this is so delayed! It's really thanks to you guys and your reviews that I got off my lazy bum and wrote the chapter so don't forget to review! And we're really only one chapter away from getting to the character developement, aka, teh fluff. So keep 'em comin', folks!**

* * *

"Ah!" Sokka yelped and let him go, flailing his arms in a circle. "You're not Katara!"

Zuko rolled his eyes heavenwards. "Thankfully, no."

Sokka looked back and forth between Katara (who stood, grinning, with her hands on her hips) and Zuko (who managed to glare at them all without looking at any of them).

"Oh… crap."

* * *

"We have to find Toph, Sokka. We can't just leave her out there!"

"Why not? It's not like she can't see – we are on nice, solid ground. She's a master earthbender. She can take care of herself."

"That's not the point! She's part of the group and she's probably really worried! We can't just leave her out there!"

"I thought you didn't like her?" Sokka asked suspiciously. "You know, with the whole calling-you-Sugar-Queen thing."

Katara blushed. "Don't _call_ me that!"

Sokka shook his head, his eyes never leaving her face. "You just don't know how weird it is to see Zuko blushing…"

"Oh yeah?" Katara crossed her arms. "What do you think it's like seeing Aang not trust what someone said? It's practically sacrilegious."

"Really?" Aang piped up.

"I don't blush!" Zuko growled.

"Oh yeah?" Sokka crowed. He reached up and grabbed Katara by the broad shoulder and dragged her down to Zuko's level. Point at her face, he demanded, "Then what's that? See that rosy pinkness? That's a blush, Zu-zu!"

"Don't call me Zu-zu!" roared Zuko. "And it's not a blush! I don't blush!"

"You're blushing now," Katara informed him smugly. Smirking at Zuko's pitiful attempts to maintain his breathing, Katara decided to push his buttons even further.

"You know…" she said, glancing at her – his – nails. "I have to say, I look pretty cute when I'm angry."

"_I'm not CUTE!_"

"Are you sure about that, Sugar Queen? Cause you do go for the girly thing quite a bit." Toph stepped out from the bushes. "Where _were_ you guys? You just ran off and left me with Iroh back there."

"Who?" Aang asked, furrowing his brow.

The bushes almost violently for a few moments before the plump, older man came out, chuckling to himself.

"These bushes get more difficult to get through every day." Iroh straightened and patted his stomach. "I can't imagine why…"

Zuko slapped a hand over his face and dragged it down. "It couldn't possibly be the _tea_, could it, Uncle?"

"Of course not," Iroh huffed. "Tea doesn't make you fat – Wait a minute…"

Iroh raised an eyebrow at Zuko (in Katara's body) and tapped his chin. "I don't believe I'm actually related to you, young lady…"

"It's me, Uncle!" Zuko exploded. "Zuko!"

"Zuko?" Iroh looked surprised, as Katara and Aang tried to hold off giggles. "I could have sworn my nephew was more… of a _boy_, than you are."

With the finish of that sentence, the dam on Katara, Aang, and now Sokka's laughter burst and they all started giggling madly. Sokka fell to his hands and knees, pounding the ground with his fist while Aang had to turn around, both his palms over his mouth. Katara was wiping tears from her eyes as she watched Zuko, in her body, turn as red as a flame.

"It's not funny." Zuko said through gritted teeth. "We switched bodies, Uncle. Me and the water _peasant_-" But this insult did nothing to slow Katara's laughter. "and the Avatar and the boy… apparently…"

Iroh gave a cough that sounded like a laugh and shook his head. "Of course not, Prince Zuko. It's not funny at all…"

"That you're a girl?" Toph scoffed. Laughter rang out afresh at her statement. "Of course it is! It's hilarious!"

Everyone continued laughing as Zuko simmered. "It's not funny," he disagreed. "It's not."

No one paid attention.

"Stop laughing!" Zuko commanded, swiping an arm through the air. "I told you: It's NOT funny!"

When they didn't stop, he gave a growl and swung around to his Uncle. "Uncle, I _order_ you to stop laughing!"

"But I am not laughing, Prince Zuko," Iroh protested, chuckling to himself. "I am just… just…" He waved Zuko away.

Zuko grunted and stomped his foot. Only Toph seemed to notice – with her honed hearing – the splash of water that timed a little too perfectly with the prince's tantrum.

"Uh, guys…?" she said slowly, turning her ear to the water pouch that hung from Zuko –Katara's waist. "Maybe we should stop…"

"Why?" Katara demanded. "After all the stuff we took from this guy? It's nice to see him dropped down a peg. He's such a jerk and he's been chasing Aang since forever."

"Why you… you…" Zuko was straining with the effort to put his frustration and anger into words. He jabbed a finger at Katara. "You peasant!"

Water burst from the water pouch at Zuko's side and flew through the air, smacking Katara in the face. Droplets ran down her new cheeks and nose to gather at her chin. Everyone stood stock still, even Zuko, as everyone stared at Katara's wet face.

"Hey!" Katara protested. "Watch it! It was just a joke, you know."

Zuko recovered quickly and folded his arms over his chest. He stuck his nose (and such a cute little button one it was, at that!) and said, "Well, it wasn't funny. You're stuck, too, you know."

"Well, you didn't have to be such a jerk about it!" Katara retorted.

In a moment of strangely calm behavior, Zuko glared at her in a disdaining sort of way and said, "Oh really? Who was the one laughing then?"

Katara's anger lost its fire as she realized what she had been doing.

"He's right," Aang admitted soberly. He bowed, Sokka's little ponytail flopping over. "I'm very sorry for laughing at you, Prince Zuko."

Katara bowed, as well. "Yeah, me too. I'm sorry."

Sokka crossed his arms. "_I'm_ not apologizing. He's still been a jerk for chasing Aang, even if we _were_ laughing at him."

Katara glared at him and said, "And I'm sorry for my brother. He can be a jerk, as well."

"Hey!"

"Apologies accepted." Zuko interrupted Sokka before he could go any farther.

"Perhaps it would be best to sort this out as quickly as possible," Iroh suggested. "Before any more misunderstandings occur."

Zuko's newly darkened face drained of color as he realized what his uncle could have meant.

"Azula…"

* * *

**This might just be me, but I think Zuko was a little OOC in this chapter. He struck me as calmer than he usually is in the last scene, but he's changed so much, especially in this season, so I don't really know. Why don't you review and tell me what you think, eh? nudge nudge And don't forget, reviews really encourage me to write! College is just so demanding...**


	4. Chapter 4

**This one's a little shorter, but it's the last chapter before they all set out on their "journey to self-discovery and love" ahem so review anyway!**

**I'm sorry this is so late. Darn, but I've been saying that to a lot of teachers lately...**

* * *

"Perhaps it would be best to sort this out as quickly as possible," Iroh suggested. "Before any more misunderstandings occur."

Zuko's newly darkened face drained of color as he realized what his uncle could have meant.

"Azula…"

* * *

_This might be a good thing, though, for my nephew,_ Iroh thought as he sat on the back of the Avatar's flying bison. _Maybe he will come to realize how it is necessary for the Avatar to return balance to our world. He might become just a little stronger for all this._

The group had decided to the best thing to do was find the nearest town and ask around for any information on the animal that had caused this. It was obviously Muffins' fault that everybody had switched bodies – they agreed on this after consulting one another about the last things they remembered before blacking out.

So far it seemed the best policy to everyone to simply try to ignore the situation. They had all been surprised to find out that bending abilities (or lack thereof) had stayed with the physical body and after Zuko's temperamental display, it was agreed unanimously that tempers stay flagged.

(Sokka had been horrified to find his worst nightmare had come true in more ways than one – "Not only does this mean I'm a bender – I can bend all four elements! Which means I'm also a firebender! This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me!")

"A town!" Sokka shouted, pointing from the edge of the bison.

"Thank goodness," Toph muttered, her arms wrapped around a decorative hole in the side of the saddle. "Nice, solid ground."

Aang lowered Appa to the ground and slid cautiously off, unable to airbend for the first time in his life. The rest of the group descended as Zuko rode up on the ostrich horse.

"Do you really think anyone's going to be able to help us here?" Zuko asked as he looked at the town with disdain.

Katara shrugged. "It's worth a shot. Better than not asking at all and missing the one person who could help us."

Zuko raised an eyebrow at her. Katara rolled her eyes instead of responding.

"I have a good feeling about this town!" Aang declared cheerfully. "And I'm the Avatar, so I should know these things!"

"Not anymore you aren't, Twinkle Toes," Toph said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Or should I say Snoozles?"

"Oh, right." Aang agreed. He turned to Sokka, who had been trying to see down the back of his shirt, and asked: "So what do you think, Sokka? Think this town's a good place to start?"

"What? Oh, hm, yeah yeah. Sure. Whatever. Hey, Aang… just how far do these arrows go?"

"O-_kay_, then!" Katara clapped her hands. "Let's get a move on and see if someone-"

"Why, my dear, you are all wrong, all wrong."

Katara spun around to see a wizened old woman with a hunched back and a cane looking up at her with one, bright eye. The woman was clucking her tongue and shaking her head.

"Oh, uh, excuse me, ma'am," Katara bowed. "But, what do you mean?"

"You're all messed up!" the woman declared. "You should be…" she looked around the group until she spotted Zuko and pointed. "in that body. And he… and those two boys… oh dear…" She shook her head some more.

"Old woman!" Zuko barked, stepping forward. "You know what's wrong with us? Do you know how to fix it?"

The woman jumped and placed a hand over her heart. "Oh dear me… you startled me, boy…"

Katara bowed again. "I apologize for my companion's _rude_ behavior." She glared over at Zuko. "But please, ma'am – could you help us?"

"Yes, yes, of course…" the woman said distractedly, peering at Toph. "Well, you're in the right body, dear…"

Zuko growled under his breath. "Just tell us how to fix it, old woman!"

"Zu- Li!" Iroh chided. "You should be more polite to the lady. She is only trying to help." Iroh sidled over to the startled old woman and took her hand, kissing the knuckles. "After all, it's only expected that such a distracting woman might herself be distracted, hm?"

The old woman fluttered, her free hand waving in the air, patting down her thin white hair as she blushed. "Oh dear, well of course I'll help you. Come along, come along."

And she toddled off, escorted by Iroh, down a path that led into the woods. Aang looked at everyone else, shrugged and followed. Katara sighed and went down the trail, too, followed by Sokka and Toph as Appa flew overhead.

Zuko glared at the ostrich horse before tugging on its reins.

"Come on," he muttered. "We might as well."

* * *

"What you need is a potion," the old woman told them as she shuffled about her house. 

It was a fairly small cottage and everyone was standing awkwardly along the far wall of the kitchen. She opened cupboards and checked behind pots until she found what she was looking for.

Pulling out a large, leather bound tome, she placed it on the kitchen table and untied the leather thong that kept it closed. She shuffled through papers, peering down at the thick pages until she discovered the one she needed.

"Ah ha!" she proclaimed. "Here it is. You'll need quite a few ingredients for this one…" she trailed her finger down the page. "Uh huh… uh huh… well, I've got plenty of _that_… _that_ grows right by the stream… oh… oh no… oh dear, dear, that's going to be tricky."

She slammed the book shut and everyone (who had been leaning forward, trying to see what was written) jumped.

"You'll have to retrieve some of the ingredients, my dears. I'll write them down for you and where you can find them in just a minute. Why don't you all shuffle out and have a nice sit in the sun then, hm?"

As everyone moved to stand outside, Sokka made the odd comment that raised hair on the back of Katara's neck:

"You don't think she's insane… do you?"

* * *

**Hmm... do _you_ think the old woman's insane? What do you think's going to happen on this trip? Are you all as excited as I am? Then review, damnit!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, guys, sorry I'm so late. This chapter's quite a bit longer than the other - by about 1,100 words! (eh heh...) But the story's really picking up.**

* * *

As everyone moved to stand outside, Sokka made the odd comment that raised hair on the back of Katara's neck:

"You don't think she's insane… do you?"

* * *

"Well, this won't be too hard…" Aang looked at the piece of paper the old woman had given him.

"What are you talking about?" Sokka demanded. "Some of these things are miles away! Flat-Nose Island? Who names an island after somebody's nose?!"

"Someone with a flat nose?" Toph offered. Sokka groaned.

"That's not really helping, Toph," Katara warned her. "Look, if it bothers you that much, Sokka-"

"It does."

"- then we can split up." Katara finished, ignoring her brother.

"But the old lady said the people who switched bodies need to stay close,' Toph reminded her. "If you don't, then your souls fly away, or something, and we're not leaving you alone with Hot Pants, over there."

She jerked her thumb at Zuko, who hadn't really been paying attention.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, then what do you suggest we do?" Katara asked. "Waste all this time looking for ingredients to a potion? Aang's got to master earthbending and firebending. We don't have time to waste!"

"What did you call me?"

"Katara," Toph crossed her arms. "You said this guy's been chasing Aang around since Day One. We can't just let you go off with him." Toph's frown suddenly turned into a smirk. "Though maybe the real reason is cause you wanna make out with Hot Pants, over there."

"I do no-!"

"Don't call me-!"

"NO, SHE DOESN'T!"

Everyone stopped arguing and looked over at Sokka. His voice had been magnified a hundred times by Aang's airbending capabilities and his face was bright red.

"I'm not letting _my_ little sister make out with Hot Pants!"

Zuko snorted. "Like I'd want to make out with her." Katara began to protest but Zuko continued. "And even if we did go our separate ways, I'd say it's obvious to say we're at a truce until this gets sorted out and I never go back on my word. Unlike _peasants_, a prince of the Fire Nation has honor."

"Are you kidding?! You tied my little sister to a tree!"

Toph perked up. "You did? Why?"

Zuko scowled. "I was… asking her a question…"

Toph snorted. "You got a funny way of asking questions, Hot Pants."

"Stop calling me that!"

"That's beside the point!" Katara said, blushing. "Okay, look. Maybe we shouldn't split up just yet. Let's find some of the easier ingredients and once we see how things are going, maybe we can decide if people'll be okay with going out in pairs or whatever."

Sokka held up a finger. "But, I-"

"But nothing!" Katara stopped him. At his baleful glare, Katara softened just the slightest. "Come on, Sokka… we have to give this a chance and you know how important it is for Aang to master the elements… please just _try_ to get along…?"

Sokka sighed. "Fine," he caved. "But no one makes out with anyone else!"

"Of course," Katara rolled her eyes. "Why would you want to make out with Aang, anyway?"

Toph and Aang giggled as Sokka gagged.

"You know," Zuko put his two bits in. "It really works better for me if the Avatar _doesn't_ master all four elements."

* * *

"This is so _stupid_!" Zuko kicked at the water, sending it splashing. Katara swiftly deflected it and glared at the irate boy.

"Do you mind?" she asked in a chilled voice.

Zuko stomped around in circles. "What's it matter anyway? It's not like were not already soaked through!"

"Well, you'd dry faster if you didn't throw water around like that." Katara pointed out. When Zuko opened his mouth to cut her off, she quickly continued. "Not to mention you're scaring off our chances of actually _finding_ one of these salamanders."

Zuko held up his finger as he considered her words. Growling, he realized she was right.

Katara smirked (but only a little, she couldn't help herself) and plunged her arms back into the swampy water. The shirt Zuko had been wearing was folded neatly and set up on a wide, low-hanging branch by the edge of the bog. Zuko, however, was either not in the mood or refused to strip down to it and was still completely clothed. Katara had been a little uncomfortable at first with taking off her shirt, but after a while, she got used to it. It was okay, it wasn't like she had breasts anymore anyway.

When it had come to that moment when they'd reached the swamp and had to search for the elusive grass salamanders for their cure, there had been a big argument amongst the group. First, Aang had refused to search for the little animals, saying he'd rather be stuck as Sokka than hurt a poor animal. (Which had been quite an interesting statement to come from him, seeing as he looked like Sokka…) It wasn't until Katara pointed out that all they really needed was the _mucus_ of the salamanders and didn't have to kill them.

Then, Toph had refused to get into the water, despite its only being a foot deep. Iroh had then complained of having a bad back and therefore couldn't bend over to rummage around murky water and retrieve said salamanders.

Strangely enough though, when the group had finally decided it wasn't beneficial for Iroh or Toph to hang around, Katara had caught a glimpse of what looked like a glance of triumph pass between the two. (Of course, for Toph it was more a smirk in the general direction of the old man.) They'd flown away on Appa, back to the village where the old woman lived. After they'd arrived, they were to send Appa back while setting up camp and caring for the ostrich horse they'd all left in the care of the old woman.

"You know, I find it kinda weird they get along so well," Sokka griped as he watched the pair take off into the sky. (Oh, how strange it seemed to see a suspicious Aang!) "I mean, I know Toph said she'd seen him before and all, but that all seemed just a little too… _planned_ if you know what I mean."

"What _do_ you mean, Sokka?" Aang chirped.

"I think you might be right, Sokka," Katara agreed, peering off into the sky. "It seemed really suspicious. Like they were planning something."

"Uncle's always planning something," Zuko muttered as he kicked at the ground. It squelched under his feet – being water-soaked and all – and he made a face as his other foot sunk in an inch.

"What do you mean?" asked Katara.

Zuko sighed exasperatedly and tried to pull his foot out. It came up with a suctioning squirt and he shuddered.

"What do you think it meant, peasant?" Zuko snarled. "The old fool's always thinking up some stupid plan or something and they're always _stupid_."

"You said that," Katara pointed out dryly. "And my name's not peasant; it's Katara."

"I'll call you whatever I want to, _peasant_."

"No, you won't!" Sokka as Aang stepped in front of Zuko and glared up at the now-even-_taller­_ boy. "Just because we're not some snooty prince, doesn't mean we can't kick your butt. And now you don't even have your uncle here to protect you anymore so why don't you just shut it with the peasant thing?"

"Just because my uncle isn't here," Zuko grounded out, his fists curled at his sides. "Doesn't mean you can beat me, _peasant_. You're not anywhere _near_ the skill level of a normal warrior, let alone a Fire Nation _prince_."

With that said, Zuko swiftly turned around and marched off, splashing through the water.

There was silence amongst the three friends as they stared at the place he had disappeared to, the swampy bog with overhanging branches and vines that cut him off from view.

Katara sighed as she felt their connection start to pull at her from thirty feet off. "I better follow him, guys. I'll see you later."

"Why should you follow _him_?" Sokka demanded, crossing his arms over his now-smaller chest. "He's the one being a brat."

"Yeah, but I'm sure it's not helping him that you're being a jerk," Katara rejoined. "He just needs to get used to the idea of hanging around with us. Plus, it probably didn't help that you kept calling him 'Hot Pants' earlier."

Aang snickered as Sokka fought the smile off his face.

"Yeah," Sokka smirked. "But it was worth it."

Katara tried to fight from grinning but it was a losing battle. "Yeah, but it probably hurts his feelings." She tried to say it with empathy, but really. She just couldn't.

"Yeah, but he sure is hot-headed," Aang pointed out.

"And he does have his head up his butt," Sokka concurred.

Katara let out a snort before she could stop herself. A somewhat violent tug demanded she start moving and she sighed again, all humor gone.

"Sorry, guys," she waved as she set off. "But I gotta go."

* * *

They had discovered the issue of distance when Aang had suddenly declared his need to make use of the bathroom.

While it hadn't been so awkward for Sokka and Aang (because they were both boys) as Katara realized the implications of the basic bodily function, her face had turned a bright red. Glancing over at Zuko, she found the boy staring pointedly ahead, two touches of pink that were actually kind of lovely on her own face. (Was it really shallow of her to think – only for a minute! – that she was kind of cute when she blushed?)

But they'd quickly learned the pairs could only separate approximately thirty feet in any direction before one or the other was dragged along.

So far, Katara hadn't needed to use the bathroom yet and Zuko hadn't expressed the desire and she was very grateful. She really wasn't sure if she were ready to use that part of the male anatomy. It wasn't that she hadn't seen it before – she had helped to take care of the children in her village – but Zuko was a lot older than the infants in her village, and a lot bigger.

Not like that! No!

Katara blushed as she walked towards where Zuko was marching.

She just meant he was larger – no! Taller! He was much taller than the children in her village!

Oh lord, Katara thought as she moved on. This was so embarrassing in her mind, even. How was she going to deal with it when he time came?

Pushing some vines out of her way, Katara finally reached the spot where Zuko had stopped. He stood bent over with his arms up to his shoulder in the water, running them through the silt on the bottom of the bog.

And so they came to this point, arguing in an almost friendly way and looking for grass salamanders, which interestingly enough, did not live in the grass.

Zuko glanced over at the girl – well, him – as she dug around. She seemed perfectly fine with being shirtless despite fourteen years of being a girl. Zuko couldn't help but think it would have to be awkward, suddenly not having breasts. It certainly was awkward to suddenly have them. Sometimes he would move his arms in front of him and it would get stuck. _What's this?_ he would think and look down, only to find these… things in his way.

It wasn't that they were even very large, just that he wasn't used to them being there. And they were a lot firmer than he'd thought they'd be – not that he'd been touching them or something! It was just that his arm kept running into them! I mean, they were _right there_, on the front of his/her _chest_! How did girls avoid them?

And suddenly Zuko thought of Katara standing beside him, in the water, in her _own_ body, wearing _no shirt_.

And it was quite a disturbing image.

Flustered, Zuko stood up quickly and fell back a few steps, splashing water everywhere. As Katara looked up at him, he spun around, unable to meet her gaze even if it really was his. He was having difficulty seeing her as anything but most definitely a _girl_ and she wasn't wearing a shirt and all he could think about was if she were in the _body _of a girl, the fact that she would have breasts, which were now his breasts, and she would be not wearing a shirt with those breasts.

Zuko grabbed the shirt she had folded off the branch and flung it at her.

"What?" Katara asked, looking down at the garment. Everything had been fine for a few minutes and now he was flinging her/his clothes back at her.

"Put it on," Zuko grated out, spinning back around and away from the half-naked should-be-a-girl.

"But Zuko," Katara began. "I don't need-"

"I SAID PUT IT ON!" Zuko roared.

"Okay, okay!" Katara relented, sliding her now very muscular arms into the heavy shirt. "Geeze, what's your problem all of the sudden?"

Zuko blushed, all over. He could feel her tiny body shaking with all his embarrassment, rage and… was that just a little fear? That she'd figure out what he was thinking?

"Just put it on," he muttered. Deciding it was too much to handle, he pushed past her and walked as far as he could back to where they had left the others before going back to searching the water.

"You're still a girl, you know."

Katara blinked.

What?

* * *

**Ooooh... cliffhanger? Maybe? Kinda?**

**Okay, you guys. I see all those people who have me on alert! I want you all to review. Do it! Now! I command you! I have a nice long chapter in store for next time and it's got all kinds of fluff, even some physical-ness. (Though not too much.) But I work better under pressure, so... review!**

**Not to mention the story's really picking up. I've got a great idea that probably just made this story a little bit even longer. And I realize this story has a lot of potential to be really kinky and sexual and while I love teh heat as much as I do, I also feel just a little awkward about putting these characters, owned by Nickelodeon, in too sexual situations. So I try not to do that. There will definitely be kissing, maybe even by Zutara (ha ha, jk, definitely by Zutara) but if there's anyone out there who would like to take this idea and run with it to its fullest kinkiness... well, I guess that's all right. You just have to notify me and send me a link. I'll even let you use some of the same stuff I've written, but YOU HAVE TO TELL ME. No exceptions. I'll advertise your story in mine, but no outright stealing.**

**Thank you, sorry for the long author's notes, review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Love me, 'cause this one chapter may be real short, but the next one is real long. And it's coming up in the same day, so...**

* * *

"Finally!" Sokka shouted as he held up the slippery salamander. The thing was about six inches long and an inch and a half thick and was covered with thin, grass colored stripes that were ideal for hiding on the shores.

"Yes!" Aang cheered. "Let's get some mucus and get Katara and Zuko and get the next thing on the list!"

There was a pause as Sokka held the squirming lizard and Aang waited.

"Aang?"

"Yeah, Sokka?"

"Just how _do_ we get the mucus?"

* * *

"But Sokka…" Katara groaned as she went back over the list. "There's eleven more items on this list. This'll take forever. And that crazy lady said the longer we're stuck like this, the stronger the bond between us is. By the time we get through all these, we'll have been at it for years and stuck."

"Katara, we can't split up. You'd be stuck with Hot Pants."

Zuko glared at him from across the saddle and the wind whipped his/Katara's long braid around. It was really painful to get hit with it.

"I already told you to stop calling me that."

Sokka ignored him. "He's a jerk, Katara."

"Yeah, but it's bad enough I'm stuck with you; I don't need two jerks in my life." Katara rolled her eyes.

"She has a point, Sokka," Aang interrupted. "We'd get this done a lot faster and then you wouldn't even need to worry about Zuko hanging around your sister. He'll just be chasing us again."

"Yeah!" Katara agreed. "It'll just be like old times!"

Zuko couldn't help but snort. The insinuation that there was any pleasure in chasing the Avatar around the globe on either side of the matter was ludicrous. It was painful and expensive. It was necessary. It wasn't fun.

"Come on, Sokka," Katara goaded her brother. "It'll be okay. Zuko won't do anything, he promised."

Sokka frowned. "I want to hear it again."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Fine." he sighed. "I promise."

Sokka shook his head. "It's not enough. I don't believe him."

Zuko's bright blue eyes narrowed and his words became clipped. "I promise," he bit out. "On my honor."

Sokka looked like he might argue. His brows furrowed and he looked like he was thinking very hard. But, eventually, his own understanding of a warrior's honor won out and after a moment he stuck out his hand. Zuko clasped it in his own.

"Fine," he conceded. "But you better take care of my sister."

Zuko nodded and turned away, just happening to look into the face of Katara. Her eyes were narrowed a bit and Zuko found it a little disconcerting to being stared at by one's own eyes.

"_What?_" he snapped.

Katara turned away. "Nothing," she said airily.

* * *

**Click next page! Click next page! You know you want to...**


	7. Chapter 7

**The best thing about this chapter is that it's all one scene. It has funny stuff, serious stuff, fighting, bending, and fluff all together! It is seriously just all over the place as far as genre goes, but it makes sense. And I really like it. And it's long.**

* * *

They had been walking in the woods for several hours now, the ostrich horse having been retrieved and following behind them, carrying their packs. Their list was five items long, the other seven having been either too far off or across water and therefore more suited to being acquired through flight of bison.

Katara had been thinking hard, rolling something over in her mind over and over again. It was kind of bothering her and seemed rather important, especially since she was now traveling with him alone.

Finally, it got to the point where she couldn't keep it in any longer and she just blurted it out:

"Hey Zuko, I thought you said you didn't have any honor."

Zuko swung around. "Who told you that?!" he demanded.

Katara's grip tightened on the ostrich horse's reins at the fury on his face. "You did."

Zuko jerked back as if he's been slapped. "Oh." And he turned around.

They walked on some more until Katara felt she had given him sufficient time to calm down.

"So then what did you mean by that?" she asked softly. "Did you really mean you have no honor? Or did you lie when you promised Sokka?"

Zuko stopped but didn't turn around. Katara stared at his back. In her mind, however, it wasn't her own, slim back she saw, but his large and muscular one. She could just see how it would look, stiff and rigid.

"You remembered," he murmured.

Katara snorted. "Of course, I remembered. You tied me to a tree."

Zuko hung his head to the side, not really looking at her but bringing his profile into view. His braid slipped over his shoulder and slid down his back.

"Sorry."

Katara blinked. "Um, it's okay. Um… apology accepted?"

Zuko nodded once and then walked on.

Katara trotted up to him, right behind his shoulder. The ostrich horse huffed and followed. Katara could see down on Zuko, the top of his head came an inch or two below her shoulder.

"Could you tell me about it?" she asked as delicately as she could. Zuko stopped and she just managed to keep from knocking him over. She was sure she would if she hadn't stopped in time – she was just so large and he was just so tiny.

A moment passed where she considered their heights as they actually were, switched, but she shook it off and continued.

"I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Zuko shook his head. "It's a long story."

"We've got a lot of time," Katara pointed out.

Zuko seemed to consider it. He whirled around and looked up into Katara's eyes. Katara watched, fascinated by the emotions that passed over his face. She could tell he was trying to figure out her sincerity, how much she wanted to know, how much he wanted to tell her.

His gaze drifted right and rested on the left side of her face. Katara could feel the warped skin around her eye and cheek prickling as he regarded it. His hand lifted and his fingertips hovered only centimeters above the flesh.

Katara took his hands – now delicate and brown – into her own new, rough and large fingers and placed them on her cheek.

Zuko's eyes widened and his gaze darted back to hers.

"Zuko…" Katara struggled to find the words she wanted. "We're kinda… it's almost like…" she sighed. "I don't know. We're almost like the same person now, you know? I mean, we haven't been through all the same stuff, but we've both been through a lot and most of it's been pretty recently and actually with each other. Maybe… maybe that makes us connected, you know, on a deeper level, even if we aren't friends."

Katara wasn't sure, but she felt like Zuko looked like he was about to cry. His eyes were wide and shining and suddenly Katara's chest expanded in sympathy. She dropped the reins and pulled Zuko towards her, wrapping her arms around his smaller body.

At first, he was stiff but he soon flowed into the hug, into her warmth and creeped his fingers around her stomach to hug her back. Katara made a note that Zuko had a sensitive belly as it leapt spasmodically under his hands, and tried to make the hug as comforting as possible.

Zuko's first thought was that it felt strange to be hugged. The last person to hug him had been his mother. His second thought was that it was strange to be hugged by himself.

His third thought was that he felt very safe.

It was a strange feeling because what made him feel safe was the strength in the arms around him, which was his own strength.

But it wasn't even just that, really. It was the wholeness in the hug. The feeling Katara was emitting, that she wanted to keep him from being unhappy, that she truly cared. It felt really good to be hugged like that and to accept the hug.

Unfortunately, his nose began to run and he sniffed. Katara pulled away and looked down at him.

"You're crying?" Katara looked completely bewildered.

Zuko was furious. "I am not!" he shouted, back away. His hand reached up without him realizing it and wiped the wetness from his face.

"What the…" he looked down at the moisture on the back of his hand. He looked back up at Katara, his blue eyes hard.

"Why am I leaking?" he demanded. "Your body is leaking!"

Katara had a strange look on her face as she looked down at him. The look only made him angrier, like she thought he was being weird or something.

"You're just crying, Zuko. I didn't make you do that."

"Yes, you did!" Zuko felt hysterical now. The tears were coming faster and more easily and the knowledge of that as they dripped down his cheeks and nose made him even more churlish. Why weren't they stopping? What was wrong!?

"Oh gods." His voice was strangled now and he wiped at his face with both hands. "What's wrong with me?"

Katara reached out but Zuko took a step back, still rubbing at his face. Her hand hung in the air for a moment and then fell to her side.

"It's normal, Zuko," she said quietly. "You're upset. And yeah, maybe it is my body's fault a little bit. I do tend to cry a little when I get upset. But it's normal."

"This isn't normal!"

Katara put her hand on her hips. "Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't!"

"Shut up, Zuko!" Katara shouted. Zuko froze in his spot at her outburst and she continued. "I said it's normal and it is! I don't know why you feel like you've got to tell me what to do all the time! I'm telling you now, so suck it up!"

Zuko stared at her, his hands paralyzed in the air near his face. Katara glared at him, a little surprised at herself but unwilling to give in. What Zuko did next shocked the both of them to the core of their roots.

He broke out into tears afresh.

It was then that the situation – the cause and the silliness of Zuko, the hard-faced, rough-tempered Fire Nation prince, trapped in a girl's body, unable to control or stop his own crying – it all got to her and she laughed.

First, it was a giggle. Zuko didn't notice.

Then, it was a chuckle, from the back of her throat and she lifted a hand to her mouth to stifle it.

But it didn't work and soon she was laughing outright.

"It isn't funny!" Zuko rubbed at his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Zuko," Katara wheezed, bending over and trying to catch her breath. "But it is!"

"It's not!"

"You're a…" Katara kept laughing. "You're a little girl!"

Zuko stomped his foot. "I am not!"

"Ha ha… yes you are!"

"No!"

Zuko ran over and pushed her and she fell back to the ground. There, she continued laughing, a hand on her flat stomach and her eyes closed in mirth.

"Stop laughing!" Zuko shouted. By now, he was no longer crying. Fury had swept over him, pure and fierce. It was nice to know that this body could be angry just as strong as his own body could.

Without thinking, his right hand went to his hip as his left thumb flicked open the top of the water pouch that hung there. His fingers drew together and pulled back, his wrist flicking at Katara.

Katara sat up suddenly, her face sopping.

Zuko stared, his blue eyes wide, his stance in the correct position, naturally.

"You just…" Katara was dumbfounded. "You just waterbended at me!"

Zuko stepped back, out of the fighting position, but his hand still at his hip, his stance still wary.

"Well, you can't blame me," he told her, watching her warily. "You're the one who started it! You laughed at me."

Katara used the bottom of her shirt to mop up the water. "It's not that really… it's just… _insulting_, frankly. _I'm_ the waterbender. You're the _firebender_."

"What? You thought I couldn't do it?" Zuko was affronted.

Katara rolled her eyes as she stood up. "That wasn't really _you_, Zuko. That was muscle memory. You didn't even think about it."

"Or maybe I'm just so amazing at it that I don't _need_ to think about it!"

_Is that what I look like when I'm being righteously angry?_ Katara wondered to herself briefly. Zuko was standing with his arms crossed and his nose in the air, but in her body. It was a position she recognized as something she did a lot when she was arguing with Sokka, convinced she was in the right.

"That's not amazing, Zuko," she waved her hand in the air dismissively. "That's muscle memory. _I'm_ the one who worked so hard to get my body to do that."

"I think you're just jealous," Zuko disagreed. "I think you're upset that I'm a better waterbender than you and I'm Fire Nation!"

"Fine!" Katara scoffed, her temper starting to get the better of her. "Then _you_ be _me_ for the rest of your life and _I'll_ be _you_! I think being a prince would suit me!"

"Oh yeah?" Zuko glared at her.

"Yeah!" Katara stood up straight. "I'm tall, I'm strong. I can firebend pretty good and I'm not half bad-looking when I'm not scowling."

Zuko stared at her, his mouth hanging open.

"Yeah!" Katara concluded, looking really pleased with herself. "I like this idea! I can do it!"

"B-But…"

"Except…" Katara lowered her eyes. "Except we can't leave Sokka and Aang like this. It wouldn't be fair. Besides. Could you imagine Sokka as the Avatar?"

Zuko regained his composure and scoffed.

"I wouldn't mind," he retorted. "It would be a lot easier to catch that buffoon."

"Are you still on that?" Katara glared,luhgsgdg. "Do you realize how bad that would be? If you captured the Avatar? How much the world would suffer?"

Zuko's eyes flashed. "At least I would have my honor!"

"Stuff your honor!" Katara yelled. "Even your uncle knows better and he's been Fire Nation longer than you!"

Zuko turned away. "Uncle is a fool," he murmured.

Katara scoffed. "Yeah, he'd have to be." Zuko whirled around to glare at her – he was still _his_ Uncle, not hers! – but she plowed on, ignorant of his outrage or uncaring.

"I mean, he's put up with you, hasn't he? He obviously cares a lot about you, loves you even, and all you ever do is yell at him." Katara tossed her head back like she was flipping an imaginary braid over her shoulder instead of the short bristly hair she had now.

"I've seen you." She continued on. "You're all bluster and temper. I can't imagine why he'd stick around unless it was because he actually _liked_ you, except even then I can't imagine why. It's not like you're grateful. I mean, he obviously doesn't like the idea of you capturing Aang and upsetting the balance, but he helps you anyway. Here's this guy who would choose you and what you want over the entire _world_ and all you do is yell and act like a brat! I don't think even Sokka would put up with me if that's how I treated him!"

There was silence in the forest as both of them mulled over what was just said. Katara knew that Sokka would never abandon her, no matter how bratty she acted, and she felt kina bad about saying he would, even if she knew it wasn't true. But still, she felt she had to make a point.

Zuko was thinking. He was reflecting on the past two years and beyond, about how much his uncle had doted on him, supported him and followed him, both before and after his scarring. He had once said that Zuko was like a son to him, and Zuko had to admit, at least to himself if no one else, that Uncle Iroh was like a father to him.

Maybe even more so than his own real father.

Zuko lifted his chin and set off purposefully down the trail. He walked past Katara and the ostrich horse that was eating greens off the side of the path.

"Wait!" Katara called out. "Where are you going?"

Zuko responded without turning his head back to her.

"To get the ingredients," he said. _There's no way you're getting my uncle,_ he thought.

Katara stood, her hands at her sides as she stared after him. Shaking her head like a dog trying to remove water from its ears, she scooped up the reins to the ostrich horse and hurried to catch up with him.

Walking behind him, Katara smiled to herself, wondering if she had ever sashayed quite so confidently when she was in her own body, and if Zuko realized how feminine his indignation was manifesting.

* * *

**Now that summer's here, I will definitely be finishing. And this will be a good story, I can feel it. And you know what else I feel like doing? Writing a lemon. So I think there'll be one of those in here too. Good luck with that. I've never done it before! Hopefully it'll be good. It's just that this tension... so yummy. **

**Now the question is, should they be in their own bodies when it happens or each others? ;)**

**Review, please:)**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: WARNING: There may be some OOCness in the last section of this chapter. I'm really sorry for that, guys, but it's only a momentary lapse and I blame it on both me being tired, and the characters being tired. I know Zuzu doesn't have a sense of humor, really, but when people are utterly exhausted like he's supposed to be in that last chapter, they do weird things they wouldn't normally do. Plus, I thought it was kind of funny. **

**So please try to enjoy it anyway, and stick around. The rest of the story won't be as blatantly OOC.**

* * *

Zuko looked Katara up and down. She was standing with her arms crossed, her weight on one foot. Her eyes were glazed over and she was looking thoughtfully into the distance, the wind light tousling her clothes as it passed over the long grasses of the fields. She was wearing his coned, straw hat in anticipation of entering the small village's marketplace in the middle of the fields.

"You'll need to act like a boy, fit the part," he said.

She turned to him and rolled her eyes.

"Well, that's not too hard. All I have to do is eat a lot and make fart jokes."

Zuko scowled.

Katara raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Think you can handle being a girl?"

"You mean act like you? Yeah. All it takes is some whining and glaring."

"Yeah, look who's glaring now!"

Katara and Zuko tried to stare each other down, neither blinking. Zuko could feel his eyes watering when Katara scoffed and looked away again. "Yeah, whatever," she said.

"We need to be convincing!" Zuko told her. "They need to _believe_ we're actually a girl and a boy."

"We _are_ a girl and a boy," Katara countered. "Besides, they'll believe it anyway. I mean, who wouldn't? Do you ever look at someone and think, 'Oh, that's definitely not really a girl.'?"

"That's not the point!"

"Besides," Katara shrugged. "Worse comes to worse, they'll just think I'm a really frilly guy and you're a masculine girl."

Zuko's fists tightened at his sides. "I'm not a frilly guy!"

"Girly girls don't yell," Katara pointed out in a singsong voice.

"Well it's not like you're even a girly girl when you _are_ a girl." Zuko turned away and crossed his arms again.

He really liked to stick his/her nose up in the air, didn't he? Katara wondered if it was something she did a lot or if she had just never noticed him do it before. His anger in his true body always seemed a bit more… explosive when she'd seen it. Maybe it was a firebender thing.

Then his words hit home and Katara scowled.

"Hey, I can be girly when I want to be!" she jabbed him in the shoulder. The force sent made Zuko fall a step forward but he whirled right around and pushed her.

"Don't _push_ me!"

Katara pushed him back. "Then don't push _me_!"

A rustling in the bushes from the nearby forest caught the attention of the two fighting and set them both into fighting stances.

"Can you even fight without waterbending?" Zuko whispered out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes trained on the trees.

"Shut up, Zuko!" Katara gritted out.

An old man stepped out from the forest, carrying a large, square basket on his hunched back.

"Eh?" he said in surprise. He raised his bushy, white eyebrows at the sight of the two teenagers looking for all the world as if they were expecting a cavalry of Fire Nation soldiers to attack.

Both of them sighed and stood straight, though Zuko's sigh had a tinge more of frustration than Katara's.

"Another old man," he spat. "Why am I surrounded by old people? All they do is cause trouble."

"Zuko!" Katara chastised.

"It's true!" He crossed his arms. "The whole reason we're even l-"

"Zuko!" Katara's interruption was more harried this time, desperate to keep him from blathering their situation. Somehow, it didn't seem like such a good idea to go telling everyone a waterbender had switched bodies with the Fire Nation prince.

"Zuko, eh?" the old man's voice was raspy and creaked liked his basket as he walked towards them "That's a strange name fer a girl."

Zuko frowned but Katara bowed.

"I'm sorry for my sister's behavior," she apologized. "She's just in a bad mood."

The man stood near Katara and regarded Zuko with a look of distrust. To Zuko's everlasting humiliation, he could feel a blush rise up in his cheeks and neck.

"She's _always_ in a bad mood," Katara corrected herself.

The old man snorted. "Sister you say, eh? Doesn't look much like yeh."

Katara shrugged, the lies coming easily from her lips in a way that Zuko grudgingly admitted was something he couldn't do. Somehow, he'd never really been a very good liar, as illustrated by his lies about the broadswords he owned to Zhao.

"Well, half-sister really," she continued. "Different mothers, you know. My father remarried after my mom's death."

The man looked concerned and turned to Katara.

"Died you say? I'm sorry to hear that."

"It was a long time ago." Now Katara was really playing the part, Zuko thought. She actually looked really sad. "She was killed in a Fire Nation raid on our village. It's all because of this stupid war."

Oh. No, she actually was sad; she wasn't faking.

Zuko digested the words. Had he known her mother had died in the war? He felt like he had heard, maybe she had mentioned it that night he tied her to the tree. But he obviously hadn't been paying attention, because the sentiment was hitting him hard.

"My mother is gone, too," he told her softly. Her gaze lifted from the ground and looked into his eyes. "The war took my mother, too."

Something flashed across Katara's eyes, then. An emotion, almost a color. It seemed to Zuko as if he were looking into her eyes then, blue and big and expressive. He imagined no one had called his eyes expressive at all in the past three years, unless that expression was anger.

Katara's eyes widened when Zuko made his confession. It had seemed for a moment as if they had flashed golden, but it was obviously just the sun glaring.

Then, suddenly Zuko stiffened and looked back and forth between her and the old man.

"But of course, you already knew that!" he exclaimed. "I mean, we've been traveling together and stuff. We're brother and sister and stuff!"

Katara realized what he'd said as an impact on the lie she had just woven and chimed in.

"Well, yeah," she said. "But it's not like we've been living together all our lives! I mean," she turned to the old man and held her hands out beseechingly, as if hoping he would understand. "I've been living with my grandmother! Dad went off to fight and met my sister's mom in the Earth Kingdom. She, er, lived there with her family."

"Yeah," Zuko helped. "I'm from the Earth Kingdom even though I'm a water tribe peasant."

The last part just slipped out and Katara glared at him.

"Yeah…" she spoke slowly. "Though that peasant bit may be going a _bit_ too far, don't you think, _Zuko_…"

Well if she was going to act like that…!

"Wow," the old man wheezed. "Sounds like the two of you have got some family drama going on!" He started walking past them. "Are yeh all coming down to the village?"

Katara hesitated. "Um, yes… we'd like to… I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

The old man looked up at the sun, shielding his eyes with a hand. "Well, it looks like it'll be getting dark soon. You might as well come on down. Since you seem like such a nice fella, I'll even put you up in our barn. Sister too, for all she's quite a mouth on her."

Zuko's blush deepened as he glared at the man's back. "We don't need your chari-!"

"It's not charity, Zuko," Katara interrupted him, throwing a hand out to his chest. Zuko pushed it away furiously but Katara ignored him. "It's hospitality. The man's just being nice. Why can't you do the same?"

She looked back to the man who was waiting a little ways down the trail, thanked him and bowed. The man nodded and made his way towards the village again.

Katara took off after him, the ostrich horse's reins in her hand while Zuko fumed behind her. Why did it seem like this kept happening?

* * *

The old man walked into his small wooden house and called out to his wife. "Sensha!" He turned to Katara. "You can put that down over there, young man." 

Katara lowered the basket she had relieved from the old man from her shoulders to the floor by the doorway. Zuko stood sullenly in the doorway, a look which was not too attractive on her body, Katara noted, and resolved to never do once she was back in it.

An old wrinkled woman with a large bun on top of her head walked out of an open doorway that obviously led to a kitchen.

"What?" she asked, her voice harsh and high. "What do you want, old man?"

"You talk to me like that?" the man demanded, his own voice rasping terribly. Katara wondered if maybe they'd married because they both had such strange voices. "I'm trying to tell you, you have guests and you talk to me like that?"

"Guests?" the old woman's voice changed and she noticed Katara and Zuko for the first time. Rushing over, she primped her hair for Katara. "What a handsome boy!" She pinched Zuko's cheek and he scowled. "What a lovely girl!"

"Careful, the old man warned her. "That one bites."

The old woman glared at her husband. "Good for her, then! Who'd want a softie for a wife anyway?"

"Me, for one," the old man muttered.

"Forget him," the old woman waved a hand and turned back to the two young people. "I'll fix you up some food and you can tell me all about yourselves and your travels and what you've done…"

"We don't get much news here," the old man explained.

"And then we'll set you up real nice in the barn," the old woman concluded. "How'd you like that?"

Katara nodded and bowed politely. Zuko jerked his head in what could have been a nod if one pretended enough, but the old woman acted like it was a profuse sentiment of gratitude and dragged Zuko into the kitchen by the arm, petting his hair and exclaiming over his eyes, his clothes, his skin.

The old man shook his, an amused look on his face and gestured Katara to follow.

* * *

Katara lay back on the blanket covering the pile of hay that served as her bed for the night and sighed. Dinner had been a long affair – one filled with lies and more lies, some very elaborate and shaky because Zuko kept messing up who was who and what she'd said before.

Funny, Katara thought, that a Fire Nation prince was so bad at telling lies.

"You really do suck at it," she said conversationally, looking up at the ceiling.

"What?!" Zuko sat up on his bale and looked over at her.

"Lying," Katara explained. She felt really calm right now, actually.

"Well, I'm so sorry that I lie badly!" Zuko huffed. "I guess I just wouldn't have as much experience as a dirty little peasant now, would I?"

"Whatever, Zuko." Katara sighed and rolled over onto her side, watching him bluster. "You're just as dirty or otherwise as I am right now and you're not exactly living the princely life right now, are you?"

"That's going to change," Zuko muttered, looking out the small window cut into the wall. The starry sky was clear and bright outside tonight. "I will capture the Avatar and regain my throne. I have to."

If Katara hadn't been so tired, so calm, she would probably have reacted strongly to that statement with a barrage of curious questions that would have forced Zuko to clam up and retreat into himself. As it was, her mind processed and memorized the information, realizing this was the best way to go about it. He was beginning to trust her, just a little bit, even if he didn't realize it yet.

Zuko reached over with his right hand to get some water from the jug sitting on the ground to his left. Unfortunately, his new breasts got in the way and he got stuck.

"Damnit!" he cursed, grabbing them and glaring at them. "These stupid things keep getting in the way!"

Katara's eyebrows came together even thought she didn't get up. "Hey…" she said. "Careful where you put your hands on _my_ body."

"Oh yeah?" Zuko sneered. "Does that bother you? How about this?" He the end of his braid and began chewing on it before rubbing it on the dirt floor of the barn.

Katara griimaced as she watched her hair get split ends.

"Zuko…"

"How 'bout this?" He rolled over slightly smacked his bottom. Dear gods, he must be really tired to be acting like this!

"Hey!" Katara sat up. "Stop that!"

"Make me, peasant!"

"I said stop it!"

Zuko slapped his bottom again and Katara lunged at him.

"Why you-!"

Zuko's eyes widened as he saw Katara coming at him in his own body. Suddenly, he was very aware of how large he had grown in the past three years, and how much smaller Katara was than her abilities and attitude let on when they were fighting.

Katara knocked him off the bale of hay and on the floor. Before he even realized what was happening, Katara's thighs were warm around his middle and her hands were locked around his wrists, forcing them to the ground above his head. She was breathing heavily as she looked down at him, her golden eyes angry.

"Wow," Zuko spoke finally. "I'm pretty fierce."

A look passed over Katara's face.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"And big," he noted.

A decidedly amused twist settled on her lips as she regarded him.

"Now you know what it feels like every time you attack us," she told him. "Or at least for me."

"I'm really warm, too. Or is that the firebending thing? Does that mean I'm – you're – cooler than me?"

Katara sat back, letting go of Zuko's wrists and thought about it. "Maybe. I guess. I don't know. You feel pretty warm to me."

"I am also really heavy, too," Zuko gasped wryly.

"Oh," Katara gasped. "Oh! Oh, Zuko, I'm so sorry!" She leapt to her feet and offered him a hand. "Here, let me help you up."

He took it and she pulled with all her strength, expecting to have to use her old muscles, and he pretty much flew into her from the floor. He bounced off her chest, looking a little dazed.

Katara winced. "Er, sorry…"

Zuko shook his head and climbed back onto his bale of hay. "I'm going to bed." He pulled the cover over his shoulder and faced away from her. Katara walked back to her bale of hay and climbed under the blanket.

"'Night, Zuko," she called softly.

There was no reply.

Angry, she was about to say something biting when a soft rumble came from Zuko's throat and Katara almost giggled.

Oh. He was asleep already. No wonder he'd been acting so strange only minutes before. It'd been a long day, hadn't it?

Had it really been just one day? So much had happened that it had felt like a week. She really…

And before she knew it, Katara had fallen off to sleep, too.

* * *

**AN: Okay, I kinda fixed it. Now it's a little bit more believable, but still... sigh. And I will finish this story! It just... might not be until the end of time as we know it...**

**Don't worry guys. Lately, I've been inspired. Reviews really help. I'm not just saying that. Readers are great, even if you're critiqueing. (sp) :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ha! And you all thought an update would take forever again! How wrong you were, my delightful little peons, mwah ha ha! I've actually managed to outline the rest of the story and this is maybe, hm, a third of the way through. But fear not, because I have more written. The problem is, it's not all in order, so I can't just post it right away, I have to fill in the bits inbetween. **

**But I will be done very very soon. Very.**

* * *

Aang and Sokka were flying across the ocean as night descended on them.

"It's okay, buddy," Aang encouraged the bison. "We're almost there. We can even see it."

Sokka yawned. "I can't wait to _sleep_. I bet Toph and Iroh are already sleeping right now in those nice beds in that nice inn we left them at. Bet they're glad _they_ didn't get all switched up. Could you imagine that? Toph – an old man."

"What do you think Zuko and Katara are doing right now?" Aang wondered, looking up at the darkening sky. The wind whipped through the hair of his new ponytail in a manner he found refreshing. It was kinda nice to have hair.

"Prob'ly sleeping." Sokka yawned again.

Aang frowned as he thought about it. He wasn't sure how much he liked the idea of Katara hanging around the Fire Nation prince so much. It wasn't that she couldn't handle herself, it was just that…

Whatever, Aang shook his head. It wasn't like Katara was going to fall in love with _Zuko_.

Right?

* * *

The morning sun fell over Katara's face and she woke up instantly.

Amazing, she thought to herself. She really did feel better when the sun rose. It was an interesting contrast to her own nocturnal pattern. How lucky firebenders were to have the sun all the time, when the moon waxed and waned for waterbenders.

Actually, Katara wondered, would cloudy days feel as good? She should ask Zuko. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to find out for herself.

Zuko rolled over on the bale he was sleeping on, rustling the hay. He groaned and pulled the blanket over his face.

"Don't wanna get up," he complained. "Too tired."

"I feel fine," Katara chirped, hopping up.

"Hnng," Zuko replied, pulling the blanket in tighter over his head.

"Don't be sad!" Katara chirped as she bounced over to the true Fire Nation prince. "Be up!"

And she lifted him up in her arms.

Zuko let out a scream and clung to Katara's neck. She threw back her head and laughed maniacally before spun him around.

"I weigh practically nothing!"

"Stop it stop it STOP it!"

"Good. Yer up."

Katara spun around at the gruff voice, Zuko still clinging to her chest, frazzled hair sticking out and his eyes wide. The old woman, Sensha, stood in the open barn doorway with a bucket of water and a pair of fresh towels.

She glared at them and she hobbled in. "You two sure don't act like siblings."

Katara looked down at Zuko as he looked up at her. Looking back at the old woman putting the bucket and towels on the floor, she dropped him.

"Ow!"

Katara shrugged. "She's kinda weird."

Sensha grunted and walked out.

"Well, _someone's_ in a bad mood," Katara snorted. Zuko hopped up from the ground and glared up at her. "And did I mention what a pretty girl you are today, Zuko?" Zuko glared at her. "But maybe you'd like this?"

Katara held out a blue-backed brush. Zuko looked down at it and then looked back up at her.

"What's this for?" he asked irritatedly. Of course, he knew _what_ it was and what it was _for_, but he was feeling kinda pissy right then, so he was being obstinate on purpose.

"It's a brush, silly. Your hair's a mess."

Zuko took the brush and roughly worked it through his hair while Katara turned to the buckets and washed her face and teeth. He winced every time the brush hit a snarl or snagged on a piece of hay caught in its knots. After what felt like the longest time ever (and after his right arm felt like it was going to fall off) Zuko threw the brush down on the ground.

"Finished," he announced.

Katara looked over her shoulder at him. "You're not going to leave it like that, are you?"

"What?"

"Well, you have to braid it. Otherwise it'll get caught on everything and get even more tangled up during the day."

Zuko snorted. "This hair is more trouble than it's worth. You should just cut it off."

Katara frowned at him. "Do it and I'll murder you."

The Fire Nation prince (banished though he may be) was taken aback at the fierceness of her voice. Before he realized he was saying it, the words "But I don't know how to," tumbled out of his mouth.

"Well, it's easy," Katara started to explain. "First you separate the hair into three different parts and weave them together, but don't forget to leave some aside for the hair loopies – you'll pin those into the ball of hair that'll be at the top of your braid and…"

She stopped at the look on Zuko's face. It was complete bewilderment, a little wariness, and a touch of fear. Hair-styling wasn't that difficult, was it? For the life of her, Katara couldn't remember when she couldn't style her hair, bun and hair loopies and all. But maybe it really wasn't all that easy?

"Here," she said, picking the brush off the floor. She walked over at sat on the bale of hay she'd used for a bed and patted the floor in front of her. "Sit here and I'll do it for you."

It was like watching an animal, she speculated, as Zuko first eyed her warily. He slowly walked forward, his blue eyes always on her, until her turned around at the last minute and sat down. Even then, his head shot right back and looked up at her.

"Do you want me to brush your face or your hair?" Katara teased the boy (in a girl's body) sitting between her (newly larger) knees.

Zuko obediently looked straight ahead and Katara began brushing.

And Zuko was instantly glad for this moment of trust.

It felt so _good_ – the brush softly scraping his scalp, her hand following it as it smoothed the hair in its path. Her fingers were large and blunt but it still felt so good. He could imagine how nice this would feel if they were in their own bodies, with her tiny fingers running across his scalp and through his hair.

Even better was when she put the brush down and began pulling his hair back from his face. The fingers touching his face and neck, pulling strands, soothing…

Katara was amused by the look of utter peace on Zuko's face. She would bet no one had ever done this for him before, at least not with such gentleness.

"My mom used to do this for me," Katara said. Immediately she blushed. She hadn't meant to suddenly talk about her mother, but brushing her body's hair like this was bringing up memories.

"So did mine," Zuko murmured, his eyes gently closed.

"Really?" Katara was surprised.

"Not like this, exactly," Zuko admitted. "But I used to have longer hair."

"I remember," she said dryly.

The right corner of Zuko's mouth tugged up. "Before that I had a full head of hair."

"Did you wear it in a ponytail?"

Katara meant to be sarcastic, but Zuko answered seriously, "Yes. My mom liked to pull it back. She used to do it for Azula, too, before Azula got old enough to realize it was something servants were supposed to do."

Katara's hands stilled. "Servants?"

Zuko went on, not realizing at first that Katara's hands had stopped. "Azula said we were royalty, even if Mom had never been born that way, so she should never do something that servants would do."

"Really?" Katara's hands went to her hips.

"But my mother always said she did it out of love for her children and that was something servants could never do for hers." He looked up at her. "Why'd you stop?"

Katara's mouth floundered for a bit, as she looked down at Zuko sitting between her knees.

He seemed so innocent. It was probably all because he was in her body, but a big part of her felt like it was because he was being honest and open. He was probably scared to let people know things – and he probably used his anger to hide his weaknesses!

The revelation rang true in Katara's heart.

And Katara wanted to protect him. It wasn't because she was bigger than he was (though her size did make her want to pick him up and wrap him in her newly powerful arms) she wanted to let him know it was okay, that he could trust people.

"Never mind," she mumbled as she went back to brushing his hair. She quickly pulled back the bun, braided the tail and pinned the loopies back. Standing up, she hopped quickly back over the hay bale and pointed to the buckets.

"I used the one on the left but the one on the right is still full of clean water. We should probably get going soon. Get our old bodies back soon."

Zuko stood and brushed off his skirt like nothing had happened.

* * *

**Hey guys, I just wanted to let you all know that I thought about it, and I decided not to put a lemon in this story. As much as I remember how mature I felt when I was fourteen myself, it's just too young for me to bear writing a sex scene. If she were sixteen, sure, or maybe even fifteen, maybe. **

**But fear not! There will be kissing and rolling around and mud and rain, so don't worry! It's Katara and Zuko, please, so how can there not be smexy smexiness? It's why we love the pairing so much, am I right?**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: I thought I'd update. I know this is a bit shorter, but the next chapter will be really really good! Full of lots of fun and action, etc. The story really lifts off a bit in these next couple of chapters. However, this still isn't much of an action/adventure fic so it won't last too long. I like character developement best.**

* * *

"Hey, Sensha…" Katara tried to sound casual but was failing miserably. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could get some poison-root berry leaves do you?"

Sensha blinked her squinty eyes at Katara as she helped hang the laundry on the line. It was almost noon and the whole morning had been spent washing clothes and bed linen. The heavy work was typically done by women only, but strangely enough, the girl claimed to never have done such work and the boy did.

Of course, Sensha wasn't complaining, really, the boy was obviously a lot stronger than the girl. Which was good for hanging soaked sheets high up on a rope strung between the house and a nearby tree. And he was good-looking.

But what was a boy asking about poison-root berry?

"I have some," Sensha admitted gruffly. "Why?"

"My brother and I need to make a… well, it's sort of like some medicine, I guess." Katara threw a sheet over the line and pinned it there with three pieces of split-wood pins.

"You all sick?"

"Oh, it's not contagious!" Katara hurried to reassure the woman. "It… it's more of a mental thing, really."

Sensha drew back. "You don' look insane."

Katara laughed nervously. "Yeah, well, I'm not. Can't say so much for my brother…" At Sensha's look of surprise and fear, Katara laughed for real and waved her hands in the air, saying, "Oh no, Sensha, I'm just kidding! He's fine, he's fine. I was just making a joke – you know, sibling rivalry and all."

The old woman laughed hesitantly and took a step back. "Right… is there anything else you need? To get you on your way?"

Katara rattled off the rest of the list and Sensha shook her head. "I've only got them beetle-bush leaves, but I'll go get it and the root and you all can be on your way. Wouldn't want you to be sick!"

As Sensha scuttled back into the hut, Katara fought between the desire to laugh and smack her forehead. Who knew she was possible of making such a bad impression?

* * *

"Well, they were in a hurry to get rid of us!" 

Katara walked cheerfully down the path, almost skipping as Zuko behind her lead the ostrich-horse. She wished she could see herself right then. Somehow, she imagined it would be very funny to see Zuko acting as happy and carefree as she felt.

"Two ingredients, Zuko! Two! Can't you even smile a little?" Katara fell back to walk in step with Zuko, though her steps were admittedly a tad more bouncy than his.

Zuko snarled at her. "Do you know what that man had me doing? Cleaning up filth!"

Katara shrugged. "So he had a couple of barn animals. Get over it. You're on the lam, Zuko."

He scowled and looked away, remembering the smell, particularly. "It was disgusting. I wasn't made for this."

"Neither was I," Katara noted absently, watching a butterfly dance around a bush they passed. "But you don't see me complaining."

"What are you talking about?" Zuko sneered. "You're a stupid peasant. You _were_ made for cleaning filth."

"You know, Zuko," Katara felt herself starting to get a little edgy. "You better watch your attitude. You don't know anything about me."

"I know you're a peasant and I know those farmers were peasants, so I know you would be doing the exact same thing they were doing if it weren't for the stupid avatar."

"I lived in a _tundra_, Zuko! There were no animal droppings!" Katara rolled her eyes. "And what's Aang got to do with anything anyway?"

"He's ruined everything," Zuko muttered. "If he didn't exist, my life would be perfect."

"Yeah, sure, Zuko." Katara could feel her temper rising. How dare this spoiled brat blame his own stupidity on Aang? Innocent, kind Aang? "I bet you'd be hanging out with your evil sister, plotting evil ways of doing something _other_ than catching Aang, and… I don't know, killing kittens or something!"

Zuko stopped and glared at Katara who stopped, as well.

"That _brat_ has ruined my life! He doesn't exist for a hundred years and then just randomly shows up? If he would just sit quietly and _let _me capture him, there wouldn't be a problem! The war would be over and I could go HOME."

"You're blaming _Aang_ for not letting himself be captured?" Katara sputtered. "That's ridiculous! And who wants the war to end like that anyway? Only the Fire Nation does! Your people _destroyed_ Aang's people! You've destroyed his _home_ – I've seen it! – and you talk about going back to yours? You don't know how lucky you are! To have parents, to have a family!"

"What parents?" Zuko demanded. "A father, that's it!"

"That's all I've got, too, Zuko!" Katara yelled. "Because your people killed my mother!"

Zuko scoffed. "Who cares about _your_ stupid peasant mother?"

Katara's eyes widened. She had never felt so angry in her life. Rage rose up in her like flames, burning through her veins and coating her skin. She actually saw red, she was so incensed.

"You know _nothing!_" Katara slashed the air in front of her with her hand.

Zuko jumped back at the wave of fire that just barely missed him. His anger left as he realized the true problem – the girl was extremely angry, yes, but now she was a firebender, untrained. She didn't know how to control her fire and he was pretty sure she didn't even realize the flames were hers, yet.

"How dare you call my mother stupid!" Katara took a step forward and the ground was marked with a burn in the shape of her foot. "She was a noble woman with a good heart!" Katara's voice broke on the word _heart._

"Katara," Zuko held up his hands. He was surprised at how quickly his own anger left him when faced with the need to calm Katara down. It was almost as if he wasn't feeling his own emotions. "Calm down."

Katara shook her head, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. "She loved me, Zuko. Do you understand that? _Can_ you?"

"Yes," Zuko lowered his hands and looked straight up into Katara's eyes. "My mother loved me too."

"Yeah," Katara scoffed, the burning behind her eyes was starting to embarrass her. "But she's sitting cozy in a palace while mine's _dead_."

"No," Zuko shook his head. Like water dripping, he felt his heart practically melting with the weight of his emotions. "She's gone."

Katara stopped moving forward.

He looked so sad, standing there. It was a pain beyond words, beyond tears, even. It was almost as if he couldn't cry, as if it wasn't in him. For the first time ever, Katara saw a person who had sorrow etched into their very being, rather than just a powerful emotion being felt for however long a time.

"Really?" she asked, feeling stupid as soon as she said it. "I-I'm sorry."

"You didn't kill her." Zuko tried to drum up some resentment in his voice but he felt like it was sorely lacking.

"I still feel bad."

He looked up at her, wearing his own body, and he wondered if that's what he had always looked like when he was sad. Moments ago, when she had been angry, was that what he looked like? His scar highlighted and deepened in the light of his own flames, a mark that could have symbolized all that was wrong with the warped emotions of love and anger?

Sometimes he truly wondered if his father had given him that mark out of love or the desire to teach a lesson like he claimed. Sometimes he wondered what kind of father would do that to his son and the one answer he could always come up with was that it was something Uncle Iroh would never do.

"Whatever," Zuko shrugged, trying to blow off the emotions he was feeling. It was too tumultuous to want to bother with now. "Let's just go get the rest of the ingredients."

But when he tried to walk off, he found himself swept up in a hug, his feet lifted off the ground until only his toes barely touched the path. Strong arms wrapped around him and he was surrounded by his old scent and the new scent of Katara's body.

And it felt nice, finally, to be hugged like this. To feel safe because he was smaller in the arms of someone larger.

"It's okay to be sad," Katara mumbled into his hair. "It's okay to cry. It doesn't make you weak or anything. Don't be ashamed because you feel."

Zuko closed his eyes, and for just a moment, hugged her back a little.

And like water dripping, he felt his heart melt a little more.

* * *

**AN: Well, that's it for today! Please review! And thank you to everyone who signed up for story alerts or added this story as their fave or made me an author favorite. It really touches my heart when I see that and really makes my day. Seriously, feedback is always appreciated, even if it's not fully complimentary. Any review at all shows you care! (I hope I haven't just opened myself up to a bunch of flames. I can't say I've ever gotten any yet, but I still dread the occasion, should it ever arise...) **

**But I doubt that'll happen, because you guys are so great!**


	11. Chapter 11

**School's been really busy this year, guys. I'm sorry this was so late.**

* * *

"Well, it should be right here," Katara said, looking at the map.

She pointed to the little dot around the bend and struggled to keep the map up with just one hand. They were both feeling a little anxious as they had noticed only a little while early the gathering grey clouds and the smell of water on the air.

It was going to rain soon.

"Well, it's obviously not," Zuko retorted. "Because there's nothing here!"

"That's not my fault!" Katara snapped. "I don't control where people but their villages!"

"You're the one with the directions!" Zuko snapped back. "If it's not your fault then why aren't we there?"

Katara threw the map to the ground. "Did you ever think maybe it was a problem with the directions, Mister Hot-Pants? Why are you so sure it's because of me?"

"Don't call me that" Zuko growled. "I'm just trying to find the ingredients, so we can bring them back to that weird lady, so I can get back in my own BODY!"

"Well, then shut up and let's go." Katara bent down and scooped up the map. "We're wasting time here."

Zuko gave a scream of frustration under his breath and followed, tugging ferociously on the ostrich-horse's lead. He felt like pulling out his hair, this girl was so mercurial! One minute, she's pissed. The next, she's walking away, acting like she's being the bigger person!

Which brought him to his next point…

"Stop walking like a girl," he spat.

Katara shot him a dirty look over her shoulder. "I _am_ a girl, you idiot."

"You're in my body, _idiot_," he retorted. "And I don't want people seeing me walk like a girl."

"It shouldn't matter anyway." Katara kept on walking just the way she was. "Nobody should recognize you and if they do… well, then, that's not good because you're a wanted fugitive. We both are."

"But you don't have to-"

Zuko's words were cut off when he bumped into Katara's back.

"What-"

"Shh," Katara hissed. "Do you hear that?"

Zuko stopped and listened. The faint noise carried on the breeze drifted to his ears and he felt his heart thud.

"It sounds like screams."

"It's the village," Katara concluded. She started walking forward. "We have to go help them."

Zuko grabbed her arm. "With what? All we have is my swords. Are you trained with those?"

"No, but I'm a waterbender."

"No," Zuko corrected. "Right now you're a firebender and you don't have any training at all. If you go into a fight like that, you'll just as likely kill yourself or the people you're trying to help."

Katara frowned. "I won't just leave them like that," she said. "We need to help them."

Zuko was about to reply when the sounds of screaming abruptly stopped.

The two teenagers stood still on the path, their ears straining for any kind of information on what was happening in the village.

"You don't think…" Katara whispered after a while, her voice full of worry. "That they… killed them… do you?"

"Maybe the villagers won," Zuko suggested, hoping to keep Katara from running off into the battle. If she died in his body, what would happen to him?

An arrow shot from the shadows of the forest and landed in the space between Zuko and Katara. A figure carrying a bow and riding on the back of an armored ostrich-horse rose out from the shadows, slowly gaining definition until the bandit was clearly in view, wild smirk and dilated pupils and all.

"Maybe we killed them."

From the forest surrounding Zuko and Katara on all sides came more bandits. They were all mounted, they were all armed, and they were all grinning wildly, like leopard-foxes in a hen house.

* * *

"Well, well, well." The bandit leader leaned forward on his ostrich-horse. The eerie smirk never left his face as he peered down lasciviously at the Zuko and Katara. "What a fine couple here, boys."

Hoots and hollers erupted from the bandits like the wild calls of predators swooping down on their prey.

The bandit leader notched another arrow and casually aimed it at the two teens.

"Why don't you run?" he suggested. "It'll make it more fun for us. 'Promise we won't use any long distance weapons." He grinned. "Well, except for maybe an occasional arrow."

Katara sank down into a fighting stance. Normally she would run, but for some reason, something was holding her back. Something that felt strangely like too much pride.

"I'll never run from a fight!" she snarled.

Zuko, however, was feeling differently. He looked at Katara, and he looked at the bandits, and he weighed their numbers, strengths, and weapons against what he and Katara had (useless bending, and two Dao swords only he could use but that he hadn't tried out yet with his newly weakened strength and shorter arm length) and Zuko saw that the odds were definitely not in their favor.

But it wasn't fear that made him want to back down from the fight, at least, not exactly. It was Katara. She could get seriously hurt if they tried to fight and he was nowhere near strong enough to protect her. If she got hurt, he could only blame himself.

He couldn't allow it. If running was the only way to keep Katara (and his body, too, not that he thought of it) safe, then that was just what he would have to do: lay down his pride and scram.

So instead of crouching down into a similar fighting stance alongside Katara like he normally would, he grabbed her collar and pulled. The sudden, strange direction of his weight threw Katara off and she stumbled, quickly falling into a run behind him.

Zuko immediately veered off the path, knowing the straight path would only be an asset to the men on ostrich-horses, and hoping that they might find a thicker part of the forest the beasts wouldn't be able to get through.

Katara followed Zuko without thinking. Now that she was running, it felt like there was nothing else to do. The whoops of the bandits had fallen behind them until they were silent, but Katara didn't dare trust that to mean they weren't following. Knowing her luck, they were just counting to one-hundred, giving her and Zuko time to get ahead, just to make the chase a little more interesting.

Brambles started scratching her face and clothes as the forest got thicker. Zuko stumbled over a root in front of her and she just barely managed to keep from bowling him over, but they both got back up and kept running.

Then, the sound of beating feet and the catcalls of men started to fill the air.

She didn't think it was possible at this point, but Katara's heart beat even faster and she put on an extra burst of speed.

This couldn't go on, Zuko thought to himself. There had to be something they could do. If he were in his normal body, he could just shoot flames at them. Katara could smack them off their horses with her water-whip and they would all fall back.

Well, Katara had the fire now and he had the water.

Useless.

A tree showed up ahead with a low branch and Katara got an idea. She followed Zuko as he ran under it, but instead of ducking like he did, she grabbed hold of it and swung herself up, calling out softly to Zuko.

Zuko turned around and ran back. He didn't need to talk, didn't question her, just held up his hand for her to grab and let himself be pulled up beside her. Nudging her, he followed her up the tree until they sat in the thickest, leafiest part. The ground was barely visible beneath them, and the leaves around them were so thick, they could have been walls.

Both of them were silent, trying to breathe as quietly as possible when the thunder of their rides and the cheers of the bandits grew louder until finally they passed under the arbor.

Katara and Zuko breathed out a sigh of relief at the same time. She grinned at him and he couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

The two waited for hours to pass, until the shadows grew long on the forest floor. They waited until it was dark, until hours had passed into the darkness and the moon rose into the cloudy sky, casting a mottled, white glow on everything. The threat of rain was getting stronger with every minute.

Katara slipped down first and checked around silently. It was clear and she helped Zuko down. He landed close in front of her and they both smiled to each other (if a little shakily) and continued walking.

"What time do you think it is?" Katara asked after about an hour. She still spoke softly, afraid to be too loud. She's probably feel like this until they reached the next town, and they were surrounded by people who weren't bandits. (Hopefully.) Or until she was in her own body and could fight.

Zuko gave a minute shrug. "I don't know how to tell time at night," he admitted in a hushed voice. "Does the sun feel far away?"

"I don't know," Katara complained. "I've only been in this body for a couple of days. I'm not used to feeling out the sun. How about the moon? Think it'll it set anytime soon?"

Zuko scowled at her. "And how am I supposed to know about the moon if you can't even figure out the sun?" he demanded.

Katara laughed. "Touché."

Zuko blinked. He hadn't meant it as a joke but she seemed to take it that way, anyway.

Actually, Zuko had never considered himself a very funny fellow before, and neither had anybody else. His uncle was always making joke and people were always laughing at them, but he never understood. A lot of times when people made jokes, they felt more like insults. Or they were sarcastic. He liked things to be straight-forward.

They walked some more until Zuko groaned.

"How much longer could it be?" he demanded. "Until we find another village or town?"

"I don't know, Zuko," Katara responded wearily. "I'm tired too, let's just focus on the good things – like living and breathing – and not the bad things or the situation might just get-"

A clap of thunder and the heavens opened.

Both teens groaned.

"Who in the Spirit World, do you think, hate me?" Katara demanded as they sloshed through the rain.

"Probably the same person who hates me," Zuko muttered. Katara gave a half-hearted laugh and Zuko again wondered what made that comment funny. He was just speaking the truth.

Katara wiped at the water streaming down into her eyes and wished fervently for her powers back. This was her element, streaming down on them! They were surrounded and she couldn't enjoy it! She couldn't even bend it away from them and keep them dry!

"Hey, Zuko?" She broke the silence. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Zuko glared at the heavens as he shielded his eyes with his hands. He could barely hear Katara over the rain and thunder. The sky lit up briefly with lightening and thunder rolled in the dark minutes later.

Four miles, Zuko counted, using the practice his mother had taught him when he was small. He used to be afraid of thunderstorms and his mother would sit with him, teaching him ways of measuring them, of calculating and dissecting until the storm was nothing but flashes of light and loud noises set in patterns that meant nothing. accompanied by a bit of rain. Somehow his mother was always good at taking the fear away from anything.

"I'm sorry!" Katara repeated, trying to shout it over the rain.

"What?"

Katara stepped closer and practically shouted it into his face. "I'M SORRY!

Zuko rubbed a finger in his ear and glared up at the girl. "For what?" he asked suspiciously.

"For this." Katara waved around her. "For this." She gestured between the two of them. "I'm sorry you've been stuck as me."

"We still have the ingredients, right?" Zuko asked, remembering in a flash the whole point to their mission. Somehow he got distracted by the bandits and rain and running in the rain…

Katara patted the bag she had on a string under her shirt and nodded. "Right here."

Zuko nodded. "It's fine. It's not you're fault we're stuck like this."

"Yeah," Katara agreed, squinting in the rain. "Actually… it's kinda Aang's fault. I mean, I don't blame him, but he did chase after that creepy animal. And we chased after him."

Zuko scowled. "Avatar…"

Katara laughed. "Yeah, he's got a soft spot for animals. It's one of the things I like best about him."

Zuko snorted. "And I like being dry."

Katara laughed again and started walking forward. Zuko followed, continuously wiping at his face. "You know, Zuko, I never thought you had a sense of humor."

I don't, he wanted to say to her. But he didn't. He kind of liked that she thought he was funny. Why ruin that good image?

A moment passed before Zuko blurted out, "I'm sorry, too."

Katara turned around and stared at him. It was now so dark with the rain and the lack of moon that it was almost impossible to see where to step. Katara found herself having to step directly up and down with no scuffling to avoid tripping over random roots and stones.

"Why?" she asked Zuko.

He shrugged, not really understanding himself why he felt the need to apologize.

"For fighting with you earlier, when you were just trying to find a way out of here?"

Katara smiled. "It's okay, Zuko," she reassured him. "That's just who you are. If you _didn't_ pick fights with me over everything – _then_ I'd be worried."

Zuko opened his mouth to retort (to pick a fight over nothing, that is) when thunder clapped again and lightening sizzled through the air to strike the ground directly behind Zuko.

Katara darted back and tripped over her own feet. Zuko rushed forward and grabbed Katara's shirt front but she was too heavy for him and they both fell.

Another burst of lightening further away lit the world around them and Zuko saw it was going to be a long time before either one of them hit the ground again. They had both just tripped over the edge of a ravine that had to be at least thirty feet deep. It was with one thought in his head that Zuko fell, Katara's surprised face only a short way from his own:

They were going to die.

* * *

**AN: Now _that_ is a cliff-hanger. :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**I love you guys, so I didn't wait too long.**

* * *

Katara woke up, her head groggy and the ground wet beneath her. Mud covered the hands that she placed on her forehead. She ran it back, over her sleek hair, to the back of her head where a large bump was resting above the knot of her braid.

Groaning, she stood up, her legs wobbling under her as she tried to gain her balance. Birds chirped in the distance, each high-pitched sound sending a throb to her head. Soft sunlight, like that after a hard rain, fell through the trees dripping with water. A body covered in mud and wet was lying in the pile of landslide only a few feet from where she stood.

"Zuko!" she gasped and ran forward. She fell to her knees in the mud and skidded towards him, bumping into his shoulder a bit before she shook it. Her surprise at finding herself suddenly back in her own body was overridden by her concern for the prince. "Wake up, Zuko! Please wake up!"

Zuko groaned and tried to swat at the small hands shaking him but they felt so heavy.

In fact, he felt heavy all over. Since getting stuck in Katara's body, he'd gotten used to feeling lithe and light. He was by no means large in his own body, but there was a definite sense of power there, rather than agility of fluidity. This was how he somehow realized, without looking, that he was back in his own body, rather than hers.

Katara pushed Zuko onto his back and he groaned. She stopped, her hands hovering over his chest. Did she hurt him? Was he okay?!

"Zuko!" Unbidden, Katara felt tears course down her cheeks. Damnit, but Zuko was right! Her body _did_ cry too much!

She tapped his cheek with her fingers, hoping to wake him up. What if he had a concussion? she thought in a panic. He could die if he stayed asleep! She slapped him harder.

Suddenly, one of his large hands shot up and grabbed her hand while the other one grabbed her shoulder and with a growl, Katara was flipped onto her back, Zuko pinning her wrists into the soft muddy ground as he straddled her thighs.

"Don't _ever_ slap me!" His golden eyes were glowing fiercely at her, sharp and hot with rage. Tears welled in the back of her eyes just from looking at them while indignant rage began to grow in her chest.

"I thought you were _dead_, you idiot!" she yelled back up at him, bucking her hips and tugging on her arms. "Or at least _concussed!_"

"So you wanted to _hit_ me?" Zuko demanded. As much as she fought and as strong as she was, he weighed more and was stronger. He barely had to exert control to keep her from escaping.

Katara stopped struggling to catch her breath and Zuko shifted on top of her, relieving a bit of his weight from her thighs.

"If you were _asleep_, Zuko," she huffed bitterly. "Then you might have never woken up, if you were _concussed_."

Something flashed in Zuko's eyes for a moment and Katara thought he looked confused. But just as suddenly, his trademark scowl that he had used so often to twist up her own features took its place back on his face.

"And what do you care?" he asked, giving her wrists a pointed push into the ground. Katara automatically pushed back with them but he didn't budge. "If I died, the Avatar would be free, or at least have one less enemy– "

"One less _adamant_ enemy!" Katara shot back. "One less _obsessed_ enemy!"

Zuko frowned at her. "That's enou-"

"One last _crazy,_ obsessed, adamant enemy!"

"SHUT UP!" he roared.

"Don't tell me to shut up!" she roared right back, though admittedly her voice didn't have the sheer force of his. She bucked him again, digging her heels into the soft ground and trying to push him off of her.

A small grunt escaped Zuko's throat and his eyes glazed over a bit.

"Don't do that."

Katara pushed up again, twisting her hips from side to side and tossing her head back and forth. Strands of hair were coming loose and she closed her eyes to keep out the mud.

"Don't tell me what to do!" she repeated.

"I said stop!" Zuko shouted again and leaned down on her with his whole body, trying to keep her from jerking against him anymore.

Katara's breath left her in a whoosh.

"Up…" she wheezed.

"No," Zuko told her. "You can't even behave properly."

The absurdity of that statement passed over Katara as the need for air tightened her lungs.

"Need… air…" Oh gods, it was getting so hard to breathe!

Zuko frowned at her, looking into her face. Was he waiting for her die?! Katara thought frantically. Just let her up!

"Please…" Katara gasped.

Zuko studied her face for a moment more and suddenly Katara could breathe again as he lifted his body from hers only an inch or so. Air passed into her lungs with all the freshness of a summer rain and the blood that had been rushing in her temples calmed.

"Oh my gods…" Katara breathed in and closed her eyes to concentrate on gulping in the sweet air. "What the…"

Above her, unaware to her, Zuko froze.

Coupled with the sensation that had shot through his groin when she had first begun attempting to buck him off and the look on her face now of pure enjoyment as she breathed in was doing funny things to him. It was almost like she was enjoying being under him, her breasts pressing firmly into his chest with her every breath, her hips firmly tucked under his…

It was almost like they were lovers.

Heat flushed Zuko's seventeen-year-old body.

He'd never had a lover. He wondered if this is what it felt like to be with someone. He suddenly didn't want to get up; he wanted to stay here forever on top of her, at least pretending they were together. It was nice to pretend that someone liked him, someone who didn't have to, who wasn't his uncle or that random, pitying Song girl. Really, she didn't even have to do anything; just keep breathing in and out with that look on her face, her fingers curled over his wrists.

Or she could open her eyes and look up at him. She could smile sweetly and arch her back, trying to get comfortable on the ground, and he could…

Katara's eyes flew open when she felt the weight on top of her shift slightly. Startled by the nearness of Zuko's face, she gasped.

Zuko closed his eyes as her warm breath fanned his cheek. He didn't want to move, didn't want her to move. His eyelids suddenly felt heavy and he leaned his head forward until his forehead rested in the crook of her shoulder.

Katara tried to resist the shiver that tickled up her spine when Zuko's face buried into her neck. A flush crawled up her body and she was sure Zuko could feel its heat when his lips smiled against her skin.

Furious, she pushed up against him with her wrists, her body. Zuko grunted above her, but didn't move.

"Look," Katara tried a different tactic. "Maybe we should just get going. We don't know how long we've been out here, or where the bandits are, or even where _we_ are…"

Zuko seemed to think about it for a moment before rolling off her. Katara sat up.

"Ugh," she said as she pulled at the mud-covered strands of her hair. "Did you have to roll around in the _mud_? This is disgusting."

Zuko just stood and started walking away.

"Wait!" Katara scrambled to her feet, slipping in the mud. She trotted after the prince. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Does it matter?" he asked. "We have to get out of here."

"This is a _forest_, Zuko," she reminded him. "We don't know how big it is. How do you know we're not going in circles?"

"Because I'm walking in a straight line."

Katara shook her head. "You can't know that, Zuko. It's so easy to get turned around when you're unfamiliar with the landscape. There isn't even a path…"

Zuko spun around furiously, his hands clenched at his sides. "Well then why don't you do something instead of just complaining?"

"I'm _trying_ to do something, you jerk! I'm trying to keep you from running us even _further_ into the bandit-ridden forest!"

"I don't need you," Zuko growled. "So why don't you just go away?"

"Fine!" Katara snapped. "I hope you fall off a cliff or something!"

She turned and stomped away. Behind her she could hear Zuko doing the same in the opposite direction.

At the exact same time, however, both teens stopped abruptly and grabbed their faces.

"Oh, ow!"

"What the-!"

Katara drew her hands back and worked the muscles in her face. "What…" She looked up but nothing was there. What had she hit?"

Slowly, she pivoted on her heel. Zuko was rubbing his nose with his back turned to her.

She tried to take a step back. She couldn't.

She pushed back with all her might and watched as Zuko stumbled backwards a step. As he did so, she felt the invisible force behind her give way.

"What the-"

"Zuko," Katara called out. The boy turned, glaring at her even more ferociously with a red nose. "I think we're stuck."

"What?" he demanded.

She pushed back again and he fell forward again before catching himself. Katara rested at a strange angle in the air, with no visible means of keeping herself up. She struggled to right herself before Zuko decided to move again.

Zuko groaned. "Why is this happening to me? Why in the world am I stuck with you?"

"Maybe the _world_ is trying to teach you some manners," Katara said sarcastically.

"I have manners."

"Clearly," Katara muttered. Before Zuko could retort, she held up a hand. "Obviously, this bickering thing isn't going to help us do anything. Let's just try to work past it and get out of this stupid forest in one piece. Okay?"

Zuko regarded her, distrust clearly shining through his entire demeanor. "Fine," he said finally.

Katara looked up at the sky through the branches of the trees. "It isn't noon yet, so the sun is in a more eastern direction. If we go west, we're sure to come across something – a village or town. Let's try to keep in that direction." She looked back at Zuko. "Is that okay with you, your highness?"

She said the last part a little sarcastically, but Zuko didn't seem to notice. He considered what she said and shrugged.

"As long as we get out of here. Quickly."

Katara walked up beside him and gave him her sunniest smile. Maybe he just needed her to be nice to him to get him to be nice to her. "Well, we'll just have to walk quickly, then. Won't we?"

Zuko was thrown off by her smile. When she did that, it was kind of… stunning.

She took off down the forest way, and Zuko followed behind her, considering this new development. They were back in their bodies, but still stuck together.

**

* * *

**

I swear to god, this story just requires more and more character developement. It was supposed to be this short, fun story but Zuko's not at any point on the show where I can keep him relatively in character AND have him accept Katara and his feelings without some major reasoning. I'm trying to keep those convos down to a minimum but it's kinda hard, so bear with me in some of my future chapters. It's not all stupid conversations, though, so don't worry. Keep reading and if there are any ideas you guys have got about the ending happening a certain way, I definitely consider suggestions. I'm writing this for you all, not me. :)


	13. Chapter 13

**Ha ha, so I see the Season Premiere set people off for wanting some fanfiction? Well, well, well... here you are.**

* * *

"Water!" Katara cheered as the river broke into view. "Oh, thank the spirits!"

Zuko didn't see what was so special except that maybe they could get a drink. And bathe. Okay, so maybe this was kind of a good thing.

They had been walking for hours; the sun had already passed its zenith. With only a couple of berries Katara had assured him were edible in their bellies, it had been tough going. He was glad to be able to relax.

Except now Katara was stripping.

"What are you doing?" he asked with wide eyes as she lifted her shirt over her head.

Katara paused with her hands at the waist of her pants.

"I'm getting clean," she told him. "I'm covered in mud and these clothes are filthy; I'm going to wash them. Here," she walked over to him. "Give me yours and I'll wash them, too."

Zuko backed away, holding the fabric of his shirt tightly. "What?"

Katara had reached him and was tugging at his clothes. "Come on, Zuko. You're filthy and no offense, but you smell too."

"No offense?" Zuko tried tugging his shirt out of his hands but he wasn't succeeding. Her hands were everywhere, pulling. "How am I not supposed to be offended by that?!"

She looked up at him, square in the eye. "You wouldn't even need to worry about it if you'd just let me wash your clothes."

He looked back at her. "I can undress myself."

She stared up at him for a moment, then glanced down at where her hands were, then back up at him and blushed. Quick as mercury, her hands darted behind her back. She stepped away, unable to look at him.

"Okay," she nodded. "Just throw them to me in the water."

Zuko watched her walk back to the riverbank. He watched as she finished taking off her clothes – pulling off her top and hopping out of her pants. When she was down to her wrappings, she walked into the water. Her clothes were left in a pile nearby.

It wasn't too bad, Katara thought. The water was chilled, yes, but it wasn't freezing, and it was nice to feel the sediment wash from her skin. She dipped under the water and scrubbed at her scalp. Freeing dried bits of mud.

Zuko was half out of his pants when Katara resurfaced. Sunlight glinted from every speckle of water like crystals that dripped down her dark skin. It was almost like the water had produced her, made her, formed her from something silvery and liquid into something dark and beautiful.

"Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there all day with your mouth open?" she teased him.

Zuko fought down his embarrassment with a scowl and walked calmly into the water, dropping his clothes on the bank next to hers.

He stepped in until the water met the middle of his chest. Katara was only a few feet away, treading water in between dunks.

The prince rubbed at his body, feeling foolish for trying to clean without soap and in front of this girl. While she seemed so graceful – so at home in her element, he felt like a clumsy, clunking fool. The thought that she might make fun of him burned his face.

"Are you going to wash your hair?"

Zuko looked up at the girl who was treading water. Instead of responding he dipped under the river's surface and popped back up.

"Well, that's not enough." She sounded indignant. "You were rolling around in a mud puddle, for spirits' sakes. Here."

Zuko backed up as Katara swam towards him.

"What?" she asked. "I was just going to help you wash your hair. Zuko, I'm not going to attack you. We're partners. Allies."

"This isn't some trick?" He felt stupid for asking, but he found it so hard to trust…

Katara rolled her eyes. "Of course. You think I want to travel alone in the forest known for having murderous bandits without you? I'm a master waterbender, but I'm not invincible. Two's better than one."

Zuko conceded to the sense of that statement and nodded. Katara swam forward and around him. Her legs brushed his sides in the water.

"Sorry," she apologized, not sounding very sorry at all. He felt his face heat up again.

Behind him, Katara reached up and started massaging his scalp, to loosen the dirt. "Dunk," she told him. Surprisingly, he did so without fighting her, despite the blatant demand.

When he resurfaced, she scrubbed again. She was startled to find that the consistency of his hair had changed after the first dunk. Instead of bristly and stiff, it was considerably smoother. Katara suspected it would never be as silky as her hair was (when she had good product on hand) but it was still softer than she thought it would be.

Meanwhile, Zuko was reveling in the feel of Katara's fingers working through his hair. It was positively seductive; he felt like he would melt. When her fingers brushed the back of his neck and then again, he didn't mind at all. Just wishing this feeling wouldn't end.

When Katara slipped and got his neck instead of his hair, she was surprised. Surprised at how soft Zuko's skin was.

She couldn't help herself. She had to touch it again, to see if it were really that… supple.

It was.

Her hands moved from his neck to his shoulders. She was so enthralled by the discovery that Zuko – hard, distrusting, angry, impassioned Zuko – had such nice skin, that she failed to notice his shiver.

Zuko was grateful for the water. It was keeping him much cooler than he would have been on land, if Katara was touching him like this. When her legs brushed against his side again as she treaded, it was almost too much. So much touching, when the last time anyone had hugged him, he had been twelve. (And that had been his mother, not a young, pretty girl half naked with him in a river.)

"Now," Zuko took a breath and began again, desperate to try and think of anything other than what he was feeling. "Now that we've found a river, we should try following it. People build along rivers."

"Good point," Katara murmured, not really paying attention.

Katara had stopped feeling his skin and was now admiring his muscle. From the strength of his neck, to the muscle connecting it to his shoulders, it was fascinating. Down his shoulders, feeling his deltoids meeting his biceps (swoon) and back up again. Over his shoulders, around to the front, dancing across his collarbones…

He couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed one of her hands, meaning to pull her off and just make her _stop_, before he _exploded_…

But when he had turned her around in front of him, and he was looking down into her big blue eyes, and one of her delicate hands was caught in his and the other had grabbed onto his shoulder for balance, and her legs brushed against him _again_… he couldn't help it. He pulled her forward and up, wrapping his free arm around her waist and kissed her.

Katara was blown away by how warm it was. Hot, really, in more than one way.

She had to wrap her legs around his torso (she _swears_) for balance and support. When she did that, one of his hands came under her bottom and pushed her up so she was kissing down on him. The feel of his large palm on her rear was exhilarating and she renewed the kiss, opening her mouth over his and pressing again.

He was loving the feel of her in his hands, of her hands on his shoulders and neck. Everywhere he was touching her was warm, burning hot, and he didn't want to let go. He wanted to wrap her around him tighter and tighter, until they were _melded_ together.

He opened his mouth and took her bottom lip into his and sucked. Then, he pulled away and kissed it again, running the tip of his tongue along the edge, and then back again, closer to where her lips met.

Katara opened her mouth and caught his tongue between her lips. He responded by kissing her deeper, his tongue pushing further into her welcoming mouth, hot and wet and she was so incredibly turned on.

But eventually they both had to breathe and they broke apart.

Katara was still being held up by him, one hand on her bottom and the other around her waist while her hands were splayed across his jaw and neck. She was caught in his golden gaze and with every heavy breath they took their chests touched.

Zuko thought she was deliciously flushed and he couldn't look away from her eyes. She was soft and strong; his hands were attracted to the power he could feel in every muscle – an attribute he wouldn't have expected to find appealing in a woman.

"Um," Katara had to break the silence. She didn't want to and she still couldn't look away, but it was killing her. "That was nice."

Ouch, what a lame thing to say! He was going to think she was an idiot!

But actually, instead of the reaction she was expecting, something strange happened. A rumble began in Zuko chest, vibrating against her stomach and she looked down at it, panicked. But when she glanced up at his face again, he was smiling and… and laughing.

Zuko was laughing.

It wasn't rip-roaring, more of a chuckle, really, but oh my god, there it was. A laugh. From the stoic prince, himself.

"My god," Katara breathed, watching him. "You're so handsome when you do that."

And it was true.

But Zuko wasn't sure how to take it and he stopped. He warred between his esteem, which was offended, and his common sense, which said that Katara (who he had admittedly only recently gotten to know better) would never have meant such a thing in a bad way.

His common sense was rewarded when she reached down and touched his right cheek. Softly, she lowered her head and touched her lips to his, a gentle kiss.

When she pulled away, she was blushing fiercely and refused to look him in the eye.

"You can put me down now," she told him. "I still need to wash the clothes and… and I'm pretty sure you're clean now, from what I can tell."

Astonished, Zuko let her down and she swam to the bank and grabbed the pile of clothes.

"Why don't you go fish upstream?" she suggested, pointing. "And when you get back, we can start a fire and have a decent lunch. I'll find us some more berries or something."

Zuko nodded and walked a short ways off, still in the loose shorts he wore as underwear. He couldn't think of anything intelligent to say, and he didn't want to mess up any further by saying something stupid.

Because he had to have messed up, right? I mean, she wouldn't even look at him.

* * *

**Thank you all for the favorites and Story Alerts. Especially the reviews, though. It always makes my day to see these things in my Inbox and whenever I just check my stories on **


	14. Chapter 14

**There were some things I wanted to fix up before I posted again, but now that I have you can expect a new chapter after this very soon. Like, less than a couple of days soon. So pay attention to all those Story Alerts I've noticed:)**

* * *

Katara had long since finished the washing and had bended the water from their clothes. She felt refreshed, wearing her clean clothes and finger-combing her clean hair. She decided to let it hang loose to dry.

Bored, she figured Zuko would like to have his clothes back, and she figured she'd had enough time avoiding him. They were both adults, weren't they? She could handle facing the guy after kissing him like that, couldn't she? It wasn't like she'd hated it or anything. In fact, she'd really liked it. She hoped to do it again sometime soon.

Making her way down the river's side, she eventually found Zuko.

But Zuko had definitely not found any fish. In fact, it looked like he was getting angry at the fish, if the angry jabs he was making with a pointed stick were any sign.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked. Zuko jumped and spun around.

"Don't do that!" Zuko roared. "Don't sneak up on me from behind!"

"I wasn't sneaking," Katara rolled her eyes. "You were just making so much noise, you couldn't hear me walking like a normal person."

"Well, you try better," Zuko snapped, glaring at the water. The fish were mocking him. Mocking him!

"First of all," Katara rolled up her pant legs and walked into the water to stand beside him. "You have to be patient."

"I _am_ being patient!"

"Of course you are. And that's why all the fish are just hanging around your toes."

"Then _you_ do it." Zuko thrust the stick at her.

"Fine!" Katara snapped. It was infuriating how quickly his bad mood caught on to hers. She was a waterbender! She should be calm, like her element!

Katara frequently enjoyed forgetting about hurricanes and tsunamis.

Zuko stomped out of the water and sat down on the bank. "Are these mine?" he asked, shoving on the clothes without waiting for a reply.

Katara ignored him, watching the water silently. After about twelve minutes, a fish swam lazily close, and Katara jabbed at it. She threw from the elbow, not the shoulder, and when she pulled the stick back up, there was a wiggling fish on it.

"See?" she said, a bit more calmly than before. "You just have to wait for it. Aiming takes some practice, but the real trick is to just sit still. Fishing is all about letting the fish come to you. It's not like hunting."

"That's still only one fish," Zuko reminded her, still inexplicably grumpy.

Katara sighed and tossed the stick to him. He caught it effortlessly and made a face at the fish at the end.

The girl turned back to the water and held her hands palm-up in front of her stomach. Pushing them out and up, and falling into a stance, Katara bent three more fish into the open air, trapped in bubble of water. Quickly, she bent them onto the shore.

"That's cheating."

Katara shrugged. "Well, it's faster and I'm hungry. Let's skin them and cook 'em already."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Katara had the fish roasting sticks shoved into the ground near an open fire. It was really convenient for a waterbender and a firebender to get lost in the woods together.

"Are they done yet?" Zuko demanded. "I'm starving."

"No, they're not," Katara replied with forced patience. "Give them a minute."

"Cook them faster."

"What is your problem?!" Katara burst out. "You've been grumpy and irritable since you went fishing! What is it?!"

"Nothing!" Zuko snapped. "Why don't you just concentrate on cooking the fish? I'm starving."

"No," Katara got up and walked over to Zuko. She crossed her arms and looked down at him. "I want to know. What's wrong? I thought we were just starting to get along."

Get along? Katara blushed but ignored it. 'Getting along' was the understatement of the year.

"It's nothing," Zuko refused to look at her. He refused to even get up.

Katara crouched down in front of him. "Seriously, Zuko," she said softly. "What's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?"

Zuko closed his eyes, trying to ignore her. He wanted her to go away, to just leave him alone. He'd rather fight with her than have to deal with… with the possibilities of what that kiss meant. Was she playing with him? Was she caught up in the moment like he was? Had it even been any good or had she just been going along, not wanting to hurt his feelings?

And what if she did like it, did that even mean she liked him, the person? Maybe she just liked to kiss, and didn't even really care who it was with.

"What's wrong with me?" he demanded, looking back at her. Damnit, but he hadn't meant to say that! But he would never take something like that back. He was too proud to look away.

Katara's eyes softened but it wasn't quite pity. It was more like understanding.

"Nothing, Zuko. There's nothing wrong with you."

Zuko looked away, not believing. Katara chuckled and ran her fingers along the jaw under his scar.

"Okay, well sometimes you're annoyingly quick to temper," she admitted. Zuko's eyes snapped back to hers and she smirked. "And you react kind of weirdly to stuff, like now. I mean, I just kissed you like I've never kissed anyone before in my _life_, and you're acting like you think I don't even like you."

"You don't," Zuko reminded her. "I've been chasing you and the Avatar for months."

"Yeah, well," Katara shrugged. "There are still things I can like about you. You're persistent."

"You called me obsessed."

"You're a good fighter."

"I've _attacked_ you. And kidnapped your friend. _And_ you."

"You can be creative?"

"I tied you to a tree."

"Fine then," Katara huffed. "One thing you're not good at is taking a compliment. There's stuff that's respectable about you, Zuko, so just take the goddamned compliment and deal with it!"

Zuko blinked at her.

"If that was a compliment, no wonder I was confused."

Katara couldn't help but laugh at that. Zuko wondered what she thought was funny.

"Look, just take me for my word. If it weren't for the whole chasing-the-Avatar thing, I feel like you'd be a pretty cool guy. Yeah, you don't have much a sense of humor, but I think deep down, you're an okay guy, Zuko."

Katara grinned and tilted her head, looking at him from lowered eyelids. Zuko's heart turned over in his chest when she looked at him like that.

"Not to mention," she practically purred. "You're a pretty good kisser."

He frowned. "Only pretty good?"

She shrugged. "Well, maybe you could get better." Beat. "With practice."

And they commenced doing just that.

* * *

**AN: Oh my god. Oh my faffing god, you guys. Do you know how much I love you all? Do you? You made my day. I almost cried when I saw how many reviews I had and how nice they all were. (I haven't checked since I posted last chapter.) You all... you're just all amazing. Every single one of you. You are like... I don't even know. Words escape me and I am quite the chatterbox. **

**I... I can't even ask that you guys review this chapter. I'm just too ecstatic over how many I've already got. Just... wow. **


	15. Chapter 15

* * *

By evening, the two had finally reached a village. It was small and isolated, there were no wanted posters or Fire Nation soldiers anywhere. It was very easy for Katara and Zuko to obtain a map and a point in the right direction from the friendly villagers and they were soon on their way back.

From the one man's estimates, they were about three days from the old woman's village. Which sounded right according to about how long it had taken them to get to the tiny town. The man had sent them a different way, avoiding the road they had been using after they told him about the bandits. He promised to warn any other travelers he might see, and to contact local authorities.

Zuko and Katara spent the next three days hiking, carrying only the small bag Katara had salvaged, with the three or so ingredients they had gotten. They walked so much every day and had only just enough food, that they had little energy in the evenings and nights for anything but sleep. There had been a level of awkwardness that had joined them when they began, but it was quickly burnt off in the sun and bled out of the blisters on their feet.

The three days they walked back together brought them an easy companionship.

After disappointingly being unable to locate Toph and Iroh at the inn they had been left at, a man had informed them of the two's decision to reside with the old woman in her hut in the woods. Both were extremely relived to find out that their friends were okay and not kidnapped or arrested.

It was with relief and heavy breaths that they crested the last hill before the familiar path was revealed. It was as innocuous and dark as ever, but there was never a more welcome sight to either of the benders.

"We're back," Katara smiled at Zuko. To her surprise, he smiled back wearily.

"Finally," he agreed.

When they reached the house, it seemed no one was around except for Iroh, sitting on a stool under the window. He was whittling with an old knife and whistling. The sounds of their footsteps against dry leaves had him looking up and he smiled.

"Zuko! Katara!" He lumbered to his feet and walked over, sweeping Katara into a tight hug that lifted her off the ground. "At least you didn't kill each other, I see."

"Uncle," Zuko said, rolling his eyes. "Put her down. She can't breathe."

Iroh's eyes widened as he let Katara slip to the ground. "You switched back?" he asked, astounded. "But how?"

Katara shrugged. "We're not really sure… it just kinda happened." She tried not to think of the circumstances she had woken up in after the transformation had taken place. She turned to Zuko and tapped her chin. "You know, we never did discuss it. Why do you think it happened? Did it just wear off?"

"Perhaps it was the fall," Zuko suggested in his gravelly voice.

"Fall?" Iroh repeated. "There was a fall?"

"Yes. From a cliff."

"It wasn't that bad," Katara hastened to reassure the old man. Iroh looked slightly panicked. "The ground was muddy and I think there was more rolling than falling involved."

"Are you okay?" Iroh grabbed for Zuko's head. The young man was too caught off guard to duck and was forced to bend over so his uncle could examine it. "Li Zhi will take good care of you when she gets back. She took good care of the Avatar after he got those scratches on Long-Nose Island."

"Scratches?" Katara asked, her voice jumping half an octave in pitch. "Aang got scratches? How did Aang get scratches?"

"It was no big deal," a new voice answered from behind her. Katara spun around. "Sokka tripped and I fell into some bushes. It wasn't that exciting."

Aang walked into the clearing surrounding the old woman's house, followed by Sokka, Toph and the old woman herself. Momo flew across the way to land on Katara's shoulder; she greeted him with a small pat on the head.

Sokka stood some distance away and rubbed his chin with the side of his finger. "Since I can't imagine Zuko ever caring about Aang getting scratched – or even calling Aang by his name – I'm going to go with: you guys figured out how to switch back."

"Sokka…" Katara's voice was only half-enthused as she looked down at her older brother, currently sporting blue tattoos and an orange top. "So it didn't happen to you guys, too?"

"That must mean it didn't just wear off," Zuko murmured.

"So you guys really switched back?" Aang asked enthusiastically. "How'd it happen? What'd you do?"

Katara and Zuko looked at each other. Taking a deep breath, Katara began explaining. She started with them taking off on their own, meeting the old man and his wife, Sensha, how they managed to get some of the ingredients and how Sensha pointed them in the next direction.

She left out all the bickering and squabbling, the insults and the tempers. In fact, the lack of such details was so significant, members of the group felt the need to comment.

"So you didn't fight at all?" Sokka asked in a tone that indicated he found that impossible to believe.

Katara felt her face heat and she glanced at Zuko to find him looking away with two suspiciously bright spots of color on his high cheekbones.

After considering his cheekbones for a second longer, Katara turned back to her brother. "Well, of course there was fighting, but… it wasn't that bad."

"Really?" Aang frowned. "_Zuko_ wasn't that bad?"

"Okay!" Katara's face was burning. "So it was pretty bad in the beginning, but it got better!"

"If you call bandits 'better'," Zuko muttered. Katara glared at him.

"Bandits?" A touch of hysteria crept into Sokka's voice. "What bandits?"

Katara sighed and went on to explain. She told them all how the bandits had shown up, how she and Zuko had worked together to run, how they'd spent the night in a tree and how they'd tripped down the side of a muddy hill in the dark. She explains how they discovered their switch and how they came to an agreement in the forest. How they'd found their way back here and how the lady at the inn at told them where their friends could be found.

In a very thoughtful manner, Katara kindly left out just how much she and Zuko… "made up". It just wouldn't do for Sokka to die of apoplexy at such a young age.

Sokka frowned and turned to the old woman standing (looking more than a little distracted) behind them all. "Hey, Li Zhi," he called her by name. "How come they were able to change back and we weren't? Hm?"

The batty old woman, Li Zhi, shrugged. "They're probably just more intelligent than you."

After good-humored laughing at Sokka's expense, Katara went on to explain the… attraction still between her and Zuko.

They were currently testing this.

"It seems to me that this distance is shorter than the one Aang and Sokka can reach," Iroh said, tugging at his beard. He was standing next to Zuko while Katara stood next to Aang and Sokka fifteen feet away. Toph stood between the two, while Li Zhi closely examined an exasperated Zuko.

"Yeah," Sokka agreed. Katara still found it strange to see such a calculating look in Aang's grey eyes, despite the fact that she understood why.

"Why is that?"

"They've become closer," Li Zhi supplied.

"Yeah," Aang agreed, "but why?"

"No, no, stupid!" Li Zhi raised a fist and shook it at the young avatar. Aang looked shocked at the sudden display of aggression and Sokka muttered "crazy" under his breath. "They've become closer! Not closer!"

"You mean like they've gotten more friendly?" Toph asked.

"What?" Sokka growled, turning his head to glare at Katara. Zuko had stilled on the other side of the clearing, his shoulders tight and his hands clenched.

Katara scoffed and folded her arms. "Well, obviously," she said. Zuko's head shot up to look at her, his eyes wide and unreadable. "Getting chased by bandits and forced to work together does kinda make two people more friendly." More than friendly, she amended in her mind.

She wasn't sure, though, but when Zuko looked away after her explanation, she thought he looked kind of disappointed.

"Harrumph," Sokka grunted. He shook a finger at Zuko, fifteen feet away. "Well, just don't you go getting any ideas!"

Zuko started towards the boy, clearing bent on punching his face in. Iroh stopped him and gave a laugh.

"You don't have to worry about that," Iroh said cheerfully. "Zuko would never do such a thing."

Zuko sighed and stepped back. _Did you have to phrase it like that, Uncle?_ He glanced back up in time to see Katara smothering a giggle behind her hand. A knowing twinkle was in her eye, a look that was just for him.

For some reason, he felt lighter in his chest and he stood up straighter. It was just Uncle placating that idiot buffoon, after all.

Li Zhi sighed. "There is nothing for it, then," she declared. "You two will just have to go and find the next two ingredients these two forgot."

"Why us?" Sokka demanded the finger Li Zhi was still pointing at him and Aang. "Katara and Hot-Pants are the ones that forgot them!"

"Don't call me Hot-Pants!"

Katara giggled as Zuko roared.

"Because," Li Zhi explained. "There is obviously something very wrong with these two, that their transformations didn't complete, and I will need to keep them here for examining. Is that too difficult for you to understand or should I enunciate?"

"Wha?" Sokka scratched his head. "What's 'enunciate'?"

Aang laughed while Katara whacked him up the side of the head. "It means 'to further explain', doofus."

"Ow, stop!"

Aang sighed and shrugged. "I guess that means we'll just have to go get them!"

"Don't look so depressed about it, Twinkletoes," Toph chided sarcastically.

"Follow me," Li Zhi waved them into her house. "I will explain the best way to get these ingredients."

* * *

"All right, Sokka!" Aang cheered. "Let's go!"

"Right behind ya, buddy," Sokka intoned. He looked back at the rest of the group and wagged his finger. "Now don't any of you go getting ideas or getting arrested or blowing up something, you hear?"

"So basically, we can't do anything fun?" Toph grinned cockily.

"Yes," Sokka nodded. "Now Aang-"

There was a loud whumph that interrupted Sokka's speech. Everyone looked behind Sokka where Aang was lying in Sokka's body, face-planted on the ground.

"Aheh, heh, heh…" Aang laughed weakly after he pried his face from its indent in the dirt. "I forgot I didn't have airbending."

Katara shook her head while Sokka smacked his palm to his forehead and Toph broke out into raucous laughter.

"Guess you're not so light-footed now, eh there, Twinkletoes?"

The rest of the good-bye was short and optimistic. Aang only fumbled twice trying to actually _climb_ up the bison. It was only after Sokka tried to give him a boost with his newfound airbending and Appa's whole left side was turned into a big fluffy hairball, that Toph simply bended the ground underneath Aang to a height he could leap from onto Appa's back. The duo waved as everybody headed back inside.

"Not you two," Li Zhi stopped Katara and Zuko at the door of her hut. She held out a bucket and pointed obscurely into the woods. "I need lichi nuts. Now go!"

She thrust the bucket at Katara and screamed the last part as if setting two runners off in a race, but Katara and Zuko just blinked.

"Why the both of us if you only have one bucket, old woman?" Zuko demanded. Katara shifted her grip on the bucket and placed a hand on Zuko's arm.

"It's okay, Zuko," she said gently. "Let's just try to fill the one bucket. It'll be a lot easier than two."

Li Zhi nodded satisfactorily as Zuko gave her one last glare and took after the young girl.

"Things look like they're going well for my nephew."

"I could hear his heartbeat speed up when Sokka said that thing about them getting too close. I think more's happened than Sugar Queen and Hot-Pants are telling us."

"Of course," Li Zhi joined in. "For two people to break such a spell, even only halfway, indicates a very strong connection. I have no doubt they'll easily finish the job off, if we just give them some time… and maybe a little push."

* * *

**Hee hee hee. This is where I feel like I may have to do some rewriting, after this chapter. It's not so great from here on out. I'm kinda worried about it actually. It's just... I can't _not_ develop Zuko a little bit and have Katara kick him back into sorts. **

**Oh, and by the way, who's pissed that Zuko and Mai got back together? Me and my friends were actually cheering when they broke up ("I'm getting food for my cranky girlfriend!") but then they resolved all that? And I wanted to know more about Azula's past and what she was like when she was younger. And Tai Lee was a whole lot more interesting, too. (Azulee anyone?) In general, I'm just not too pleased with Season Three, to be honest.**

**Day of Black Sun: November 23rd**


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